County Sales Tax Surges To $3 Million This Year

Nobody’s sure quite why, but Fayette County’s economy not only is outpacing its neighbors, but its “rural” areas seem to be outpacing its towns.

For the first time ever, Fayette County got more than $3 million in 2022 from sales tax revenue. That’s up 27.9% from last year.

All seven towns in the county also had record years for sales tax, but most by much smaller margins. La Grange, for example, is up 6.2%.

The county’s newest incorporated city, Ellinger, got sales tax money every month in 2022, for the first time. The tax only became effective in November 2021, so year to year comparisons mean little.

Otherwise, only Schulenburg among the county’s towns grew more than the county did. The towns get tax from sales made only within their city limits. The county gets tax on all applicable sales in the county, whether inside or outside of city limits.

Sales taxes collected by all the towns in the county combined reflect total taxable sales of about $330 million for the year. Taxes collected by the county, however, reflect about $610 million in sales. The state does not disclose information on tax payments by individual businesses, however, so it isn’t known exactly where the “rural” gains are coming from. Many speculate, however, that much of it may be due to the thriving trade in antiques in the fields and stalls of rural Fayette County.

Similarly, taxable sales in the incorporated towns of Colorado County accounted for about $230 million of the county’s total of nearly $400 million. Bastrop County’s towns accounted for $1 billion of the county’s total $1.5 billion in taxable sales.

Although groceries, drugs and medical services, for instance, are not taxable, the sales tax rebates are generally considered good indicators of local economies.

The county’s sales tax rate is only one-half of one percent, while most cities have a rate of 1.5%.

As County Judge Joe Weber completes his final year in office, he has seen $3,053,126 come into the county treasury from the local option sales tax. When he took office in January 2019, Fayette had taken in just $2,019,794 for the year just ended. That’s an increase in four years of more than $1 million.

Even so, $1 million is a relatively small portion of the county’s total budget, which for 2022 was over $25 million.

The county gets about $10 million a year in property tax revenue, compared to $3 million in sales tax.

Cities, by comparison, rely much less on property taxes. La Grange, for example, gets about $750,000 in property taxes compared to $1.5 million in sales tax.

All the area towns and counties tracked by the Record ended 2022 with sales tax gains compared to last year. This current year alone, Fayette County’s revenue is up 27.9% from 2021. All the neighboring counties also have done well, but only one by a greater margin. Burleson County is up 35.9%, but that’s primarily because it had seen a big decline one year earlier.

Among the towns in Fayette County, Schulenburg has set the pace all year long. With December’s rebate from State Comptroller Glenn Hegar, Schulenburg passed the $1 million mark for the first time in history. Its 2022 collections are up 33.8% from last year.

La Grange also had record high sales tax collections this year, barely missing the $2.5 million mark. Its $2,461,798 for 2022 is up 9.1% from last year.

Flatonia continues to be third in the county, with $432,257 for the year, but Round Top is coming closer, with $414,500 in 2022, a gain of 14.0% over last year.

Carmine’s total was $145,802; Fayetteville’s was $127,741 and Ellinger got $63,195.

Bastrop continues to be the area’s biggest retail center. It had $11.3 million for the year, compared to second place Brenham’s $9 million.