Fayetteville Breaks the Slump In Otherwise Sluggish Summer

August brought welcome financial news to the town of Fayetteville. The state sent it more than double the sales tax payment it got last August.

Fayetteville has been playing catch-up all year due to an error in last year’s payments. Due to a mistake probably made by a business somewhere, more money was attributed to Fayetteville than should have been. When the state discovered the error, it began docking Fayetteville’s monthly sales tax payment until the overpayment was made ujp.

For August 2026, Fayetteville got $27,716.90. That’s a 116% increase over last August, when it got $12,835.39.

The one big month doesn’t quite make up for the low months up to now, but it does bring the year-to-date total for Fayetteville to just over $100,000 – only 6.9% below this point last year and well above the 2024 numbers.

On the whole, however, sales tax revenue has been fairly flat in Fayette County this year. Five of the seven towns are up, but all by less than 10%.

Schulenburg has seen the most growth, up 6.7%, and Round Top is up 5.8%.

Of the 18 other towns in the region tracked by the Record, only six have grown by more than 10%. The standout is Sealy, up 67.7% over this time a year ago. This growth has pushed it above both Lockhart and Elgin at the eight-month mark. Normally both get more sales tax revenue than Sealy.

In dollar terms, Bastrop is the big leader. Percentagewise, it’s only up 10.5%, but that amounts to nearly a million dollars. Bastrop has received $9.7 million so far in 2026, compared to $8.7 million a year ago.

Nine counties in this area also levy the optional local sales tax, all at the rate of onehalf penny on the dollar. As with the Fayette towns, sales tax has been sluggish for the county, too. Fayette County has taken in $2.2 million so far this year, but that’s down twotenths of one percent. Neighboring Colorado County is up by just one-tenth of one percent.

Again, Bastrop County is the big winner. It’s taken in $8.5 million so far this year, up 33.1% from this time last year, when it had received just under $6.4 million. That’s an extra $2 million so far for the fast-growing county just southeast of Austin. The new Sendero retail development on the west side of Bastrop and Burleson Crossing East – both on Highway 71 – have brought new businesses ranging from Sprouts Market to a second McDonald’s restaurant for Bastrop, along with Chuy’s, Texas Roadhouse, Longhorn Steakhouse and more.