Austin sales tax revenues up for now

Although overall sales tax collection for Texas cities is slightly down overall, Austin and Round Rock will both receive an increased allocation this month compared to April 2019. Austin will receive more than $18.4 million, compared to about $17.8 million for the same month in 2019. Round Rock will receive more than $6.75 million, slightly more than the $6.68 million the city received last year.

On the other hand, San Antonio’s allocation for this month was more than 4 percent less than for the same month last year, according to an announcement from Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who announced Wednesday that overall tax collections for cities are about 0.5 percent less than they were a year ago. The allocations are based on sales made in February. Hegar warned that next month’s allocations will be lower because they will reflect sales in March, when pandemic-related shutdowns started to impact sales. His news release also said, “June allocations will likely deteriorate further.”

The comptroller also reported that sales tax payments to the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority for this month would be about $20.3 million compared to about $19.4 million for last year. Overall, Capital Metro’s sales tax collection has increased more than 10 percent for the current fiscal year. The local transit agency has received more than $92 million in sales tax this year, compared to about $84 million for the same period last year. Capital Metro has stopped collecting fares for the month of April in order to protect both its customers and its drivers during the pandemic.