Despite COVID, Sales Tax Grows in Schulenburg

A new subdivision isn’t the only thing going up in Schulenburg. So is sales tax money.

Seven months into the year, the county’s second city is up 9.2 percent in sales tax revenue compared to the same time last year. And that’s despite Coronavirus, arguably the biggest disrupter to the American economy since World War II.

Schulenburg is also where the Falcon View subdivision is rapidly taking shape, on the west side of U.S. 77 just north of I-10. DSW Homes LLC is building 36 homes there.

Schulenburg’s July sales tax rebate from the state was up slightly from last July’s. So were all the other Fayette County towns with the exception of Fayetteville.

Through July, Schulenburg has received over half a million dollars from the local-option sales tax. That’s more than $43,000 ahead of last year at this point.

La Grange, on the other hand, is down 8.4 percent from a year ago. An uptick of 4.2 percent in July still wasn’t enough to overcome earlier losses. For the first seven months, La Grange has received over $1.1 million, but that’s down over $100,000 from a year ago.

In dollars, Schulenburg is up the most of any Fayette County town. But in percentage terms, Carmine is up even more. For the first seven months, Carmine’s sales tax is up 15.4 percent from a year ago. Flatonia is up 2.5 percent. But La Grange, Round Top and Fayetteville are all down for the year.

Of the 24 area towns tracked by the Record, nine are in negative territory for the year.

Of the nine area counties that levy the optional sales tax, six are up and three down from last year.

Lee County stands out from all the rest, with over $1.9 million so far this year, compared to less than $800,000 this time last year. The state does not divulge information on individual taxpayers, so the source of the big gain is not known.

Since neither of the two cities in Lee County are showing unusual gains, it is likely that the county rebate is the result of the correction of a past reporting error.

Colorado County is up more than 42 percent, but Columbus, the county’s largest town, is up only 10 percent, so a similar error correction could be the case there, too.

Fayette County’s July check was down 8 percent from a year ago. For the year to date, Fayette County has received $1.2 million, down about half a percent from last year at this time.