Ellinger Gets 1st Sales Tax Money as a City, LG Passes $2 Million Mark for the Year

State Comptroller Glenn Hegar has a new sales tax recipient to pay each month. Ellinger has its first allocation of city sales tax revenue. Nine dollars and 84 cents, to be exact.

But the payment for November is a start, and now Fayette County has seven towns getting the revenue.

At the other end of the scale, La Grange has passed the $2 million mark in sales tax revenue so far this year. With a month yet to go, 2021 is on pace to be its best year ever.

Counties also can levy the optional local tax, and Fayette County has passed the $2 million mark, too. So far in 2021, Fayette County has received $2,128,483 in sales tax, up 9.6% from the same time last year.

Of the nine area counties that have the tax, five are running ahead of last year while four are behind.

Only Bastrop and Washington, the two largest counties, have had more percentage growth than Fayette.

All seven towns in the county are up for the year, four of them by double digits.

Round Top continues to have the fastest growing economy, as reflected by sales tax payments. It’s up just over 50% from this time last year, the biggest gain of any town in the region.

But Carmine, just north of Round Top, is up by 26.8%. That’s the second highest percentage gain in the region.

And Fayetteville is up 22.2%, tied with Bastrop for the third highest percentage gain.

Schulenburg has received $868,168 this year, up 3.6% from this time last year, and Flatonia $367,360, up 9.5%.

Ellinger voted to have a sales tax back when it was first incorporated, but it has taken this long to go into effect. The new town set a tax rate of 1% on taxable sales made within its city limits. The other six towns have a tax rate of 1.5%.

The Record tracks 25 towns in the region. Of them, only four are down for the year. Nine have had greater increases than La Grange’s, while 15 have had smaller gains.

La Grange received $202,798 for November, which is 20.6% more than last November’s payment. For the year, that brings La Grange to $2,059,323.

Payments received in November reflect sales made in September and reported to the state in October.