November sales tax report: Austin down 6 percent over last year

Although sales tax revenues fell 11.6 percent across the state, Austin collections fell only 6 percent for November, 2009, according to Austin CFO Leslie Browder. That is a decrease of about $700,000.

 

The city received $10.2 million this month on November revenues, compared to $10.9 million for the same month last year, Browder said in a memo.

 

“Of the top 20 Texas cities, 14 cities saw declining sales tax revenue this month,” she said. Dallas was hit hardest, with revenues falling 20.5 percent. Not far behind, Houston was down 18.5 percent.

 

“Overall, the Austin/San Marcos MSA was down 1.1 percent this month,” Browder wrote.

 

The most interesting numbers come from Round Rock, which saw a jump of 10.1 percent for the month.  

 

To understand may this may have happened, it is important to look back at last year, when Round Rock had a decline of 19.3 percent in the same month over the previous year. 

 

Browder reported that “San Marcos, with a lot of retail, saw a decrease of 7.7 percent this month. Sunset Valley, which also has a lot of retail, was relatively flat, with a decrease of 0.8 percent. Sales tax collections in Bee Cave were down 1.4 percent.”

 

Finally, bad news continues for Capital Metro, which had a 9.2 percent decline for the month.