Northwest Arkansas sales tax growth slows to 5.4% in August report 

At $9.712 million, combined sales tax revenue reported in August by Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale was up 5.4% from a year ago, the smallest gain so far in 2023. The same cities recorded 16.75% year-over-year growth in the August 2022 report.

Sales tax revenue for the eight months of reports this year was $75.182 million, up 10.77% over the same months last year. The bulk of that growth is from a record year for Bentonville and a strong early start to 2023 by all the cities in the report.

Bentonville reported sales tax revenue of $2.414 million in its August report, up 10.54% from the prior year. This came on the heels of 50.76% gains in last month’s report compared to the year-ago period. Through the August report, Bentonville’s total sales tax revenue is $19.327 million, up 21.7% compared to the same period in 2021.

Bentonville Mayor Stephanie Orman said she is optimistic growth will continue given it’s become a destination for visitors and others moving to the region. She said the city does expect a rebate after the strong results last month and that could reduce growth estimates in the coming months.

Rogers had a decent year of year growth following two strong years in 2022 and 2021. In the August report, Rogers reported sales tax revenue of $2.572 million, up 4.52%. Through the first eight months of this year, Rogers reports sales tax revenue of $18.944 million, up 7.16% from the year ago. The city has budgeted for 10% growth this year and it’s slightly behind that target with four months to go in the reporting year.

Fayetteville, the largest city in the cohort, is having strong growth this year with revenue of $2.669 million for the August report, up 5.54% from a year ago. Through August, Fayetteville reported sales tax revenue of $21.123 million, up 7.08% from the same period last year. The city has added more than $1.65 million dollars to its coffers in the first eight months of this year compared to last.

Springdale is seeing its sales tax growth slow with reported revenue of $2.056 million in August, up just 0.72% from a year ago. Mayor Doug Sprouse said he expected to see tax revenue growth slow as more families were feeling the brunt of higher prices and choosing vacations over buying things.

Springdale had revenue of $15.787 million for the eight reporting months, up 6.3% compared with a year ago.