Northwest Arkansas sales tax revenue rises in November report

Consumers spent more money on goods and services in Northwest Arkansas four largest cities in September which helped deliver a 7.48% rise the cities’ November sales tax revenue.

Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville cumulatively reported sales tax revenue of $4.611 million this month, a gain of more than $321,000 from the same month last year.

Each month the cities collect a 2% local sales tax on goods and services. That tax is remitted to the state the following month and the revenue is returned to the cities the next month creating a two-month lag in the reporting. November revenue reflects September sales. One percent of the proceeds goes toward debt retirement and the remaining 1% is funneled into the respective city budget. This report reflects the latter 1%.

November Revenue
Bentonville: $807,035, up 34.25%
Fayetteville: $1,564,289, down 1.82%
Rogers: $1,255,385, up 4.93%
Springdale: $984,929, up 9.33%

Three of the cities reporter higher revenue this month, Fayetteville bucked that trend.

Paul Becker, Fayetteville’s finance director, attributed the decrease to one less Razorback football at home in September, compared to last year. Year-to-date Becker said the city collections are down about 1% compared to budget estimates.

“Sales tax collections have been softer than expected this year beginning with weak numbers to start the year. We are running behind budget by 1.7% this month,” Becker said.

Bentonville was the city most recently struggling with revenue collections, but in September that downward cycle reversed with a more than $207,000 increase in sales tax collections over a year ago.

City officials report that revenue year-to-date is well within budget expectations despite the ups and downs in collections in recent months.

Springdale is beginning to see benefits of the new Walmart Supercenter that opened in mid-August. The city garnered $84,000 more in added revenue from the same month last year. Mayor Doug Sprouse said the store is a positive generator of sales tax and he’s eager to see what the holiday months will mean in added revenue reported in early 2015.

Rogers collected nearly $59,000 more in monthly sales tax over a year a ago. The city finance director said Rogers is holding its own with slight incremental increases and well within budgeted spending for the year.

Through 10 months the cites have collected a cumulative $50.734 million, a gain of 14% from the $44.428 million reported a year ago.

Year-to-date Revenue
Bentonville: $8,346,278, down 3%
Fayetteville: $15,287,035, up 1.09%
Rogers: $12,406,354, up 4.31%
Springdale: $9,547,037, up 8.39%