According to the April sales tax report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, sales tax revenue for Bartlesville’s most recent collection was down 1.4 percent percent compared to the same period last year, Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer/City Clerk Jason Muninger said Monday.
The April collection, which reflects sales made primarily in February, was $1,892,868, which is $28,000 less than the April 2023 collection. Despite the downward turn, though, the period was still “a great month,” Muninger said, compared to years past.
“We had a 22 percent increase for this period in 2022 and a 1 percent increase over that in 2023, so this is actually still a much higher number than previous years,” Muninger said.
Year to date totals are $19,379,748, a full 2.2 percent, or $411,394 over budget expectations, he said.
“We budget very conservatively every year and this year was no exception,” Muninger said. “We are very ‘thrifty’ with taxpayer money, to put it mildly. This is not only what the taxpayers expect of us, it is the most effective way to operate municipal government.”
Use tax revenue
Use tax revenue for the period, which reflects online sales primarily in February, was up 3.9 percent over the same period last year, with revenues for the period totaling $357,717.
“This is the first period that we are able to make a full comparison to the same period last year,” Muninger said.
He said use tax revenue for the year is $2 million over budget and will likely edge up to $2.5 million over budget by the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30.
“We underbudgeted for this tax because at the time it was implemented in January, we had no way of knowing how much revenue it would generate,” Muninger said. “We see now that every year prior to implementing the tax, we were losing $2 million to $4 million every year. That is money that could be used to pay for more police, more fire, more parks — the things that make our community better and enhance the services we provide to our citizens.”