County’s Sales Tax Up By More Than $220,000

Sales tax money alone isn’t going to solve Fayette County’s budget shortfall, but at least it’s going to help.

State Comptroller Glenn Hegar sent the county more than a quarter million dollars last week as its August share of sales taxes collected here. That pushes the 2023 total revenue to $2,230,712 – an 11% increase over the same period last year.

While 11% is well above the current national inflation rate, it’s not near enough to keep up with the increasing costs of many county functions. As of August, Fayette County’s sales tax revenue was more than $220,000 above the same eight months of last year.

An 11% gain is about the mid-point of the nine area counties the Record tracks. Gonzales County is up 19.3% for the year, while Austin County is up only 3.7%. Still, all nine counties are up.

Six of the seven towns in Fayette County also are seeing sales tax gains for 2023.

Through August, La Grange had received $1.8 million, up 9.3% from the same period last year. Fayetteville, however, is up 96.1% for the year – the biggest gain of any town in the area. Still, even though the percentage gain is huge, the actual dollars are small - $162,000 this year compared to La Grange’s $1.8 million.

Schulenburg passed the $1 million mark with its August rebate. So far this year, the county’s second largest city has received $1,011,200 in sales tax money, up 20.3% from last year. Round Top, at $310,977, is up 18.9% from a year ago.

The county’s other three towns have had less volatility. Flatonia is up 8.2%, Ellinger is up 7.1% and Carmine is down 5.9%.

Each of the cities taxes retail sales at a rate of 1.5%, while the county’s tax rate is 0.5%. Added to the state’s sales tax rate, that makes a total of 8.25% on taxable retail sales. Items like groceries and prescriptions are exempt from sales tax, while items like automobiles and gasoline are taxed separately and therefore do not result in sales tax for cities and counties.