Despite Pandemic, Sales Tax Revenue Up in Fayette Cities

Towns in Fayette County are off to a great start in sales tax revenue for 2021.

State Comptroller Glenn Hegar this week sent checks for February rebates to local governments.

Of the six that collect the optional tax, five are up for the first two months of the year, with four of them up by double digits.

That’s quite a bit better than neighboring towns. Of the 18 nearby cities tracked by the Record, 10 are up so far this year while eight are down.

La Grange got $208,739 for February, up 15.8% from the same month last year. So far this year, the city has received 386,171. That’s a 13.1% gain from the same two months of 2020.

February payments actually reflect sales made in December, reported to the state in January, and then rebated to cities in February. That means the 2021 payments to date are comparing sales during the pandemic (late 2020) to sales before the pandemic (late 2019). Yet revenue is actually well ahead of the prior year in all Fayette County towns except Carmine, which is down only 2.6%.

Schulenburg is where the greatest growth is happening. With revenue of $166,531, it’s up 43.7% over this time last year.

Fayetteville is up 28.8%, Round Top up 15.0% and Flatonia up 9.3%.

Statewide, total sales tax rebates to local governments are up, but by a much smaller amount, 2.4%.

Bastrop, fast growing as an Austin suburb, has taken in $1.6 million so far this year, up 9.1%. Also in Bastrop County, Elgin is up 11.5%.

Brenham, the other big retail center for this area, has received $1.2 million for the first two months, up 4.4% from a year ago.

Giddings has suffered a loss so far this year. It’s two-month total is $323,232, less than in the same period of either 2020 or 2019.

Columbus is also down from 2020, but ahead of 2019.

Texas counties also are allowed to collect the optional sales tax. Data for February rebates were not yet available from the state at the time this was written.