Craighead County, Jonesboro See Increase In Sales Tax Revenues

The county and city coffers may have seen a large increase in October, but officials provided a mixed reaction as to the reasons why.

Jonesboro had $1,387,042 in city sales tax collections in October, a 7% increase over the same time in 2013, City Finance Director Ben Barylske said.

Craighead County Treasurer Terry McNatt said his county saw a nearly 6% increase in October, collecting $1,076,262 during the month.

The city’s increase was the second largest of the year, compared to the 9.6% boost officials saw in July.

However, the numbers were down from January to May when the city saw its first increase of the year, Barylske said.

Barylske said the city faced smaller collections earlier this year, due to a number of factors.

“There was a cold winter and Arkansas State University was out for six weeks (during the winter break), which was extremely rare for them. Also, construction at NEA Baptist was wrapping up,” Barylske said.

As for the reasons the numbers went up in October, Barylske credited the recent drop in gas prices leading to people have more disposal income to buy products.

McNatt said he could not explain why the county’s numbers were up, but said officials were looking at every way to make the dollar last.

“It was up 5.69% but we are only up 1.3% this year,” McNatt said. “We are going in in the right direction. However, the next two months will tell me a lot. I would also say it is a slow increase.”

According to numbers provided Thursday by McNatt, the county has collected about $14.5 million in sales tax so far this year.

The county faced the same issue as the city earlier this year. After decreases in January through March, the county’s numbers were up nearly 3% in April, nearly 6% in May, 1% in June and nearly 10% in July, the numbers showed.

McNatt said county officials are about to start work on the 2015 budget.

Officials are still waiting for a report on property tax collections before having the last piece of the proverbial puzzle, McNatt said.

Counties traditionally have three funding sources at their disposal – sales taxes, property taxes and state turnback money.

McNatt said the budget is usually done long before the Dec. 31 deadline. He said he is also thankful for any sales tax revenue increase, albeit a small one.

“I was at a meeting in Little Rock and heard about counties possibly going bankrupt. When I think about it, we are truly blessed where we are,” McNatt said.