All Fayette Cities Showing Sales Tax Gains

Towns in Fayette County are looking at healthy sales tax revenues for 2025. For the first three months of the year, all seven towns that levy the tax are in plus territory.

Fayetteville has had the biggest gain – up 75% from last year at this time – and even Ellinger, with the smallest gain, is up 4.0%.

The March payment put La Grange just shy of $700,000 for the first quarter. That’s up 7.% from last year, or nearly $50,000 ahead for the three months.

In fact, of the 25 nearby towns tracked by the Record, only one is in negative territory.

A deeper dive into the numbers, however, presents a caution flag.

The payments for March alone show Ellinger, Fayetteville, La Grange and Round Top all behind last March’s receipts. Payments from the state in March represent sales made in January and reported by merchants to the state in February. The state then rebates that amount to the cities in March.

This indicates a downturn in local sales in January, compared to the previous January. Whether sales in February and March will follow January’s downturn or go back to 2024’s gains will make a big difference to all the cities’ treasuries.

For La Grange, the March rebate was $181,285, compared to $194,072 last March.

Among the 25 area towns tracked, total taxable sales in La Grange fall between those of Giddings and Luling.

Schulenburg is Fayette County’s second largest sales center. Its revenue for the first quarter totals $319,633, a 4.9% gain compared to the same period of 2024.

Texas counties also can levy the optional sales tax. Nine in this region do so, all at the same one-half percent rate. All nine are up for the quarter.

Fayette County has received $833,775 so far this year, up 5.0% from the same period a year ago. Bastrop County continues to be the region’s largest trade center, with $2.5 million in sales tax so far, which is twice the next largest county, Washington.

Caldwell County, home to the fast-growing subdivisions of Lockhart, ranks third.