Austin, along with Texas’ other major cities, reported a continued drop in sales tax for the month of May.
Chief Financial Officer Leslie Browder says sales tax revenues dropped 11.4 percent in May from $12.1 million last year to $10.8 million this year.
Overall, “for the first eight months of fiscal year 2009, our collections are down 9.8% compared to the same eight months last year,” Browder wrote in an email.
This is in line with the 10 percent drop predicted for this fiscal year for the City of Austin.
Dallas dropped 21.5 percent and San Antonio lost 15 percent, while Houston saw a dip of 4.7 percent.
According to Browder, “Round Rock was down by 14.6% for the month and 11.3% year-to-date. San Marcos, with a lot of retail, saw a decrease of 1.4% this month. Year-to-date, San Marcos is down by 2.6%. Sunset Valley, which also has a lot of retail, was down by 15.1% this month compared to last year. Sales tax collections in Bee Cave showed a decrease of 5.0%. Capital Metro was down by 11.6% for the month.”