All Towns in County See Sales Tax Gains

Yes, 2021 really is a better year than 2020, January city sales tax revenues show.

All six towns in Fayette County currently collecting the optional local tax had strong gains this month compared to the first month of last year.

Ellinger was formally formed as the county’s seventh incorporated town after approved in November’s election. It will be some months before Ellinger can begin collecting sales taxes.

La Grange got the year started off with a gain of just over 10% compared to 2020. Its $177,431 was the biggest January sales tax check ever. Three other towns had even more impressive percentage increases though, with gains above 30%.

Not everyone in the region had such a good start. Of the 18 towns outside Fayette County tracked by the Record, half had losses instead of gains.

Schulenburg, the county’s second largest town, got $76,643 this month from State Comptroller Glenn Hegar. That’s up 36.7% from a year ago, the biggest percentage increase in the county.

Fayetteville was up 35.5% for the month and Carmine up 30.4%.

Round Top got $17,328, up 9.9% from last January, and Flatonia was up 8.2%.

Bastrop is the region’s largest retail center. It got over $700,000 for the month, up 10.2% from last year. Brenham, with over $572,000, is the second largest and it was up 6.3%.

Sealy, Gonzales, Hempstead, Giddings, Columbus, Yoakum, Caldwell, Luling and Shiner are all starting 2021 with less sales tax revenue this year than last.

Of the nine area counties tracked by the Record, five are down, including Fayette. It had the smallest dip, though, down just four-tenths of one percent.

Bastrop, Washington, Caldwell and Austin all had gains.

Payments received in January reflect sales made in November and reported by merchants to the state in December.

December sales will be reflected in payments received in February.