Sales tax revenues remained almost steady in New Braunfels and Comal County, but statewide Texas sales tax revenue was down 12.5 percent compared to a year ago.
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs’ office reported Friday that sales tax revenues through August of this year tallied in at $1.75 billion. That means the revenue sent back to local governments, $428.3 million, is down 12.9 percent in comparison to September of last year.
Texas counties will receive $15.8 million, down 16.5 percent compared to last year.
New Braunfels and Comal County trended better than the State average. New Braunfels had a tax allocation of $1,741,252, down only -1.44 percent from last year. Bulverde was down to $69,315.81, down -6.55 percent, but Garden Ridge was up $12,820.27, a +15.49 percent increase.
Comal County as a whole tallied an allocation of $1,823,388, down -1.54 percent from this time last year.
Michael Meek, president of the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce, said the difference between the statewide slump and the slight lag locally is indicative of how strong the region’s economy is despite the recession.
“That’s a trend we’ve seen for several months. When you look in comparison, it’s attributable to (the tourism season),” he said. “For instance, local hotels lowered their rates, which put the same amount of beds filled in the area.”
That response to the recession, lowering hotel rates to keep people coming to town, resulted in a good tourism season that otherwise may have been hampered by economic concerns. More people staying in town not only translate into a good season for hotels, but also mean a steady infusion of sales in tourism and local businesses.
Meek says this is a good reason the city council’s budget proposes no change in the tax rate for fiscal year 2010.
“That we are even close to the 2008 numbers in this recession is a victory,” Meek said.
The next allocation of sales taxes collected will be released on October 9.
