January sales tax revenue rises

The four largest cities in Northwest Arkansas posted healthy gains in January sales tax receipts. Total revenue received by the cities of Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville was $4.161 million, up 9.32% from a year ago.

The recent revenue reflects tax on November sales, remitted in December to the state and reported by the cities in January. All of the cities in this report collect a 2% sales tax which is divided evenly between the cities’ general operating fund and the repayment of bonds. This report tracks the city’s portion, or 1% of the tax collected which is used for budgetary operations.

All of the cities were pleased with November collections as they are each ahead of budget for the 2012 year.

JANUARY REVENUE COLLECTIONS
Fayetteville: $1.451 million, up 6.18%
Springdale: $840,461, up 5.97%
Bentonville: $776,257, up 28.05%
Rogers: $1.093 million, up 5.11%

Bentonville had the biggest month to start 2013, after collecting a surplus of more than $1.1 million last year.

“We have budgeted an 8.7% increase in 2013 given the strong year we had in 2012. Crystal Bridges continues to draw traffic to Bentonville and the vibrant downtown area,” said Denise Land, finance director for Bentonville.

Sales tax collections in the past 12 months rose 13.20% in Bentonville, from the prior year. The city collected a total of $9.436 million in 2012.

Rogers posted another big month with tax revenue in excess of $1 million for the ninth consecutive time. The recent report indicates Rogers’ businesses collected $989,500 more in sales tax during the past 12 months than in the prior year. Collections in Rogers for the past 12 months totaled $13.179 million, up 8.12% annually.

In Washington County, Fayetteville collected $17.544 million in the past 12 months which put the city $1.76 million ahead of budget. Collections rose 6.31% from 2011 totals.

Springdale collected $10.266 million in the past 12 months an increase of $244,874 from the same timeframe in 2011. Mayor Doug Sprouse says the city has a conservative budget for 2013 and is pleased with the January revenue bump of 5.97% and overall 2.44% gains in 2012.

COUNTY COLLECTIONS
Benton and Washington counties also benefited from more sales tax revenue in January and the past 12 months. The counties get 1% of the sales tax collected to go toward operating budgets.

In January, Washington County received $2.566 million in sales tax revenue. Collections rose 5.72% from the year-ago period. For the past year, Washington County received $31.217 million in sales tax, up 4.57% from 2011.

In Benton County sales tax collections totaled $2.695 million in January, up 9.11% from the same month in 2011.

Collections in Benton County rose 8.05% to $64.994 million during the past 12 months. This put $2.516 million in added funds toward the county’s operations.