January Sales Tax New Record for LG

Smaller Towns in County See Dip

A single month doesn’t make a trend, but 2022 has started off with extra cash in the till for the city of La Grange and lots of other towns in the area.

State Comptroller Glenn Hegar sent La Grange $205,629 as its January share of sales tax collected here. It’s the first January ever that exceeded $200,000.

La Grange’s sales tax was up 15.9% from last January, which actually had been the prior record-high January despite the raging effects of COVID-19.

Flatonia’s revenue was up even more, at 28.4%. But the story wasn’t the same for the other towns in the county.

Round Top roared to impressive heights during 2021, but couldn’t keep that streak going in January. Although it jumped over 57% for the full year of 2021, January saw a 26.3% drop for Round Top from the previous January.

Fayetteville tumbled 12.2%, although its nearly $10,000 in receipts was the second highest January ever.

Carmine was down 8.8% and Schulenburg down 8.0%, but for them too, this was their second-highest January ever.

Fayette County also shares in sales tax revenue and got $212,575 to kick off the new year. That’s up 24.7% from last year and puts Fayette as the fourth largest retail center for the area, after Bastrop, Washington and Caldwell counties.

Not only is Bastrop County the largest, but it also had the second greatest percentage gain among area counties. It was up 38.3% from last year, followed by Washington County’s 32.0%. Burleson County had the greatest percentage gain, at 41.3%, but it also has a much smaller total receipts than the other counties.

All nine of the area counties that levy the optional local sales tax are starting 2022 with a gain.

Among the 25 cities tracked by the Record, only six are down from last year. Besides the four Fayette County towns, Hallettsville and Eagle Lake are down from 2021.

For total sales tax revenue, La Grange ranks just behind Gonzales and just ahead of Giddings in this region.