Local Sales Taxes Soar in May; Round Top Triples Last Year’s

Maybe it was the stimulus checks that did it. Maybe it was the Spring Antiques Fair.

Whatever the cause, Fayette County towns saw a tidal wave of retail sales in March. Those sales, reported to the state in April, resulted in big increases in May sales tax rebates.

Round Top’s May check from State Comptroller Glenn Hegar was more than three times what it got last May ($59,434 compared to $14,159). Carmine’s May check was more than double last May’s ($13,794 compared to $6,751).

Federal stimulus checks began arriving in local bank accounts and mailboxes in mid-March. Apparently lots of that money got spent.

Five of the county’s towns saw at least double-digit increases this month compared to May of last year, with only Schulenburg having a decrease.

May allocations are based on sales made in March by businesses that report tax monthly and sales made in January, February and March by quarterly filers.

For the first five months of the year, all six towns are up from this time last year, with Round Top leading the way.

So far this year, Round Top has taken in $146,516, up 60.5% from this time last year.

La Grange has the largest sales tax revenue in the county, passing $900,000 at the five-month mark. Only once before in history has the city hit $900,000 in five months. That was in 2015. This year’s total of $904,715 is 14% ahead of last year.

Most of the six Fayette County towns that have the local-option sales tax are at record highs. The only exception besides La Grange is Flatonia, which had a larger five-month total back in 2013. Schulenburg, Round Top, Carmine and Fayetteville are all at record highs for this point in the year.

That’s not the case everywhere, however. Of the 18 other area cities tracked by the Record, six are actually down from this time a year ago.

Of the nine area counties that levy the optional local sales tax, five are up from last year and four are down. Fayette County, with a 3% gain, is right in the middle of the nine counties.

Bastrop County remains the largest, collecting over $2.4 million so far in 2021, followed by Washington County with $1.3 million and Caldwell County with $1.0 million. Fayette is fourth with $919,018 so far this year.

Statewide, local sales tax allocations for May were 28.4% more than in May 2020 and 21.9% more than in May 2019.

Later this year, Fayette will have a seventh town collecting sales tax.

On May 1, the residents of Ellinger approved a 1% city sales tax, which will go to the newly incorporated town’s general fund. The vote was 44-9.