April Sales Tax Soars For City of La Grange

New La Grange City Manager Fred Bell got an unexpected boost for his first month on the job from State Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

When the top Texas money man sent April sales tax rebates to cities, La Grange got $283,400 – more than half again its usual amount.

For April alone, the income was up 61.7% from the same month last year. That boost brought the year-to-date total to nearly $937,000. That means the city treasury has received about $128,000 more in the past four months than it did in the same period last year.

Among Fayette County towns, Round Top is up an even more impressive 41.2% so far this year – the biggest gain among any of the 25 area towns tracked by the Record.

And among the nine area counties the Record tracks, Fayette County has by far the greatest gain for 2023.

Compared to two years ago, County Judge Dan Mueller has nearly twice as much sales tax revenue to work with as County Judge Joe Weber did.

To date, Fayette County has received $1,113,789 from its one-half percent tax on retail sales. For the same period two years ago, the total was $682,779.

Almost all cities and counties in the area have seen increases so far this year. The only exceptions are Carmine, down 1.1% from last year, and Austin County, down 8.2%.

For the first four months, La Grange is up 15.9% from last year. Its revenue is about twice that of the county’s second city, Schulenburg. Still, Schulenburg is growing faster – 26.5% for the year to date, compared to La Grange’s 15.9%. Even stronger, Fayetteville is up 27.1% for the period.

While Fayette County collects taxes on all applicable sales countywide, the towns only get revue on sales within their city limits. That means, for example, that businesses along Highway 71 outside of town, or stalls in Warrenton or outside Round Top, pay taxes only to the state and county.

Bastrop County is by far the largest retail center for the region, followed by Washington and Fayette. While Fayette County is up 23.2% so far this year, the other counties are mostly up by about 12 to 15%.

Sales tax revenue is important to counties, but not so important as property taxes. Cities, on the other hand, normally get more revenue from sales taxes than from property taxes.

For La Grange, sales tax revenue is about three times that from property taxes.