According to the June sales tax report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, sales tax collections for Bartlesville were holding steady – about 0.25 percent up – and use tax revenue was up approximately 46 percent compared to the same period last year.
Both sources of revenue for the City continue to exceed budget expectations thanks to conservative budgeting, said Chief Financial Officer/CityClerk/Treasurer Jason Muninger.
“It’s about where we thought it was going to be,” Muninger said. “We can’t predict where it’s going to be, but we try to get as close as we can – and we got pretty close. We always budget conservatively, and this year was no exception.”
The June sales tax collection was $1,864,925, which is about 0.25 percent or about $5,000 more than the collection for the same period last year, Muninger said.
“For the year, we finished 1.67 percent, or about $382,000, over budget expectations,” Muninger said. “We had actually budgeted for a 1 percent decline, so this is where budgeting conservatively really makes a difference.”
For the fiscal year, which runs July 1 to June 30, sales tax revenue is at a total of $23,309,385, compared to $23,195,616 at the same time last year.
Use tax collections were up approximately 46 percent, or $157,000, for the period, Muninger said.
“Use tax collections are volatile,” he said. “Compared to this time last year, use tax collection is about 4 percent over what we received at this time last year, or about $188,000. For the year, we are almost 11 percent over budget expectation, which puts us over by about $493,000.”
More about the tax collections & funding
Sales and use tax collections lag approximately a month and a half behind.
“We receive a deposit around the eighth or ninth of the month, which is about a month and a half behind (sales), so when we’re looking at the June report, we’re seeing sales that occurred mostly in April,” he said.
Most sales (78 percent) and all use tax revenue go into the General Fund, which provides funding for most operations of the City of Bartlesville, of which police and fire are the largest.
“A lot of people think City operations are funded by property tax, but that is not the case,” Muninger said. “Municipalities in Oklahoma can only use property tax for debt service, so the only property tax we utilize is based on General Obligation bonds. Additionally, our utility services are self contained, meaning those departments are operated based on the rates and fees collected by each utility. So sales tax, which includes use tax, is used to fund everything else.”