Sales tax collections in Jonesboro remained at record pace prior to pandemic shutdown

The city of Jonesboro set an all-time sales tax collection record for March, but those numbers are expected to drop drastically as the impacts to the sales tax base in the city from the COVID-19 are tabulated. The city collected $1.492 million in sales and use tax receipts, a 1.3% jump from the same month in 2019, according to the city.

For the year, Northeast Arkansas’ hub city has tallied $5.131 million in sales and use taxes, up 2.8% ($138,775) from the same three month period the previous year. It’s the most ever collected in the first quarter of the year. It also represents a 2.7% increase as compared to the actual city budgeted amount.

City sales tax collections in Arkansas lag by 60 days, meaning the numbers released are for receipts collected in February. It wasn’t until the middle of March that the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the country. After it shuddered schools and non-essential businesses starting in mid-March, officials have been warning of a sales tax plunge that could set records.

Craighead County and Jonesboro have been on an unprecedented sales tax collections streak during the last five or so years, setting records for collections each year, and rarely having a month in which collections were less than the same month the previous year.

Despite the now gloomy outlook, Craighead County performed through the first three months of the year similarly to its seat. The county collected $1.673 million in sales and use taxes in March, a little more than 2% ($54,000) upswing from the same month in 2019.

For the year, the county has netted $5.726 million in county sales tax collections, a 2.8% ($192,000) increase from the previous three month period in 2019. Both the county and city were on pace to set all-time collections records prior to the pandemic.