Sales tax revenue for the most recent collection was down 8.6 percent compared to the same period last year, Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer/City Clerk Jason Muninger said Monday.
The March collection was $1,671,827, which is $162,000 less than the March 2023 collection. However, it was still the second-highest March collection to date.
“Last year’s collection was a monster,” said Muninger. “The March sales tax collection last year was up 16 percent from the prior year. So, we’re still up 8 percent comparatively.”
For the year, sales tax revenue is up $33,000, for a total of $17,486,880, compared to $17,453,052 for the same period last year.
“We are still 2.2 percent over budgeted expectation,” Muninger said.
Use tax revenue
Use tax revenue for the period, which reflects online sales primarily in January, was $320,000, which was down 25 percent from the same period last year.
“That, however, is not an apples-to-apples comparison, as the first month collected from use tax contains estimates and collections which equate to as much as 1 ½ months,” said Muninger. “We’re still $112,000 over the budgeted expectation.”
The use tax was implemented in January 2023, so the first comparisons to last year’s collections will be generated moving forward.
The City budgeted a conservative $2.5 million (or $208,333 per month) in use tax revenue for the fiscal year, which runs from July 1 through June 30.
Budget process
Muninger said finance staff are starting to prepare for the 2024-25 Fiscal Year budget.
“We want to make sure we’re in a financially stable environment,” Muninger said. “As we prepare the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, we will continue to plan conservatively when it comes to revenue projections.”
City staff is working on the proposed budget, which will be presented to the City Council for consideration of adoption in the upcoming months. The new fiscal year begins July 1.