La Grange Starts Year With Gain in Sales Tax

La Grange and four other Fayette County towns started the new year in positive territory in terms of sales tax revenue. Not all towns and counties in the region were so fortunate.

Sales tax revenue is generally considered a good indicator of overall economic activity for an area. A single month, however, may not predict how the rest of the year will play out.

La Grange got $232,526 from the State Comptroller’s Office in sales tax revenue for January. That’s about $5,000, or 2.2 percent, more than it got in January last year.

Fayetteville and Schulenburg, however, had much bigger increases. Fayetteville’s revenue was only $11,564, but that’s a 22% jump from the same month a year ago. Schulenburg jumped almost as much, up 19.2%.

Round Top retained its third place ranking among the county’s towns, with a 1.0% gain, and Carmine was up 5.5%. Flatonia and Ellinger both posted dips from last January.

A number of other area cities also showed declines. In fact, of the 25 towns tracked by the Record, nine are begin ning 2026 below last year’s levels.

Elgin, the Bastrop County town currently experiencing massive residential growth in the shadow of Austin, saw a 15% gain in sales tax for January, the greatest among the 25 cities.

In dollar terms, Brenham had the greatest gain, up about $28,000 from the same month a year ago. With just over $832,000 for January, it was up 4.7%.

Bastrop got about $21,000 more than last year, for a 1.9% gain.

At the other end, Lockhart, Sealy, Giddings, Yoakum, Hallettsville, Eagle Lake and Lexington all were down compared to last January.

Nine area counties also levy an optional one half percent sales tax. Four of these, including Fayette County, are down from last year.

Fayettte got just over a quarter million for the month, a 9.7% dip from last year. Caldwell, Austin and Burleson counties also were down for the month.

Taxes collected by merchants in November are sent to the state in December and the state comptroller then rebates them to the cities in January.

February’s report will be more telling, since it will include sales made in December, as well as returns from taxpayers who only file quarterly or annually. This makes February normally the biggest month of the year for sales tax payments to cities, counties and other local entities.

Local Sales Tax Revenues

First Month of Year (January) Fayette County Cities

Pct. Change Tax Rate 2026 2025 2024 2023 2025 to ’26 La Grange 1.50% 232,526 227,331 219,288 211,898 Up 2.2% Schulenburg 1.50% 108,778 91,219 114,998 104,406 Up 19.2% Round Top 1.50% 46,087 45,621 31,526 30,365 Up 1.0% Flatonia 1.50% 41,486 45,702 41,312 40,503 Down 9.2% Fayetteville 1.50% 11,564 9,480 9,959 10,365 Up 22.0% Carmine 1.50% 10,850 10,285 12,299 11,134 Up 5.5% Ellinger 1.00% 5,692 6,268 5,582 4,2349 Down 9.2% Other Area Cities

Bastrop 1.50% 1,098,815 1,077,869 1,030,693 978,536 Up 1.9% Brenham 1.50% 832,006 794,408 845,829 755,585 Up 4.7% Elgin 1.50% 392,151 340,689 321,866 315,648 Up 15.0% Lockhart 1.50% 381,385 481,122 338,486 306,324 Down 20.7% Sealy 1.50% 332,289 346,901 317,695 241,861 Down 4.2% Gonzales 1.50% 268,210 259,493 271,332 264,442 Up 3.3% Giddings 1.50% 223,642 246,119 225,129 207,378 Down 9.0% Luling 1.50% 199,769 188,125 178,774 149,665 Up 6.1% Caldwell 1.50% 183,889 171,757 171,032 163,034 Up 7.0% Columbus 1.50% 152,980 145,557 164,335 157,673 Up 5.1% Yoakum 2.00% 143,773 192,692 174,264 166,959 Down 25.3% Hallettsville 2.00% 127,165 138,764 132,823 118,105 Down 8.3% Bellville 1.50% 102,452 98,991 89,884 85,822 Up 3.5% Shiner 2.00% 98,345 94,732 99,113 43,272 Up 3.8% Smithville 1.50% 70,129 69,056 70,729 62,860 Up 1.5% Weimar 1.50% 68,043 64,393 67,791 65,556 Up 5.6% Eagle Lake 1.00% 33,109 33,856 34,658 36,632 Down 2.2% Lexington 1.50% 32,378 34,651 34,358 29,524 Down 6.5%

County Governments

Bastrop 0.50% 928,183 771,210 714,208 658,620 Up 20.3% Washington 0.50% 388,158 354,514 385,468 382,784 Up 9.5% Caldwell 0.50% 325,247 340,580 279,156 260,377 Down 4.5% Fayette 0.50% 252,466 279,640 265,995 258,543 Down 9.7% Austin 0.50% 229,650 236,909 208,890 195,457 Down 3.0% Gonzales 0.50% 188,206 173,903 210,053 196,497 Up 8.2% Colorado 0.50% 165,424 161,315 181,291 159,621 Up 2.5% Lee 0.50% 161,492 160,780 131,968 136,280 Up 0.4% Burleson 0.50% 110,754 123,623 120,504 146,378 Down 10.4%