The state comptroller has made a list. Highland Lakes officials are checking it twice.

Sales tax revenues were up for Burnet, Bertram and Granite Shoals in October compared with the same month a year ago. Marble Falls’ revenue was down, but doing better than many places in Texas. Meanwhile, Horseshoe Bay and Llano both endured double-digit drops in revenue.

Sales tax revenue (STR) is a good indicator of how local economies are doing. The higher, or lower, the revenue, the more or less people are purchasing in supermarkets, stores, restaurants and so on.

Though the figures are both naughty and nice everybody agrees that Santa Claus is coming to town.

Burnet’s revenue was up 1.94 percent last month compared with the same period last year.

“We’d like it to be up more but considering the economy its very reasonable,” said Crista Bromley, Burnet’s Economic Development Director.

Bromely said the summer had been slow, citing low lake levels leading to a decrease in people coming through Burnet and spending money in local stores. 

“If the lakes go up this year we should see a record year for STR in 2010,” she said, adding that upcoming festivities should mean better figures next month too.

Marble Falls suffered a 2.97 percent drop in STR last month compared with the same period last year. Christian Fletcher, Executive Director of the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce said that was better than the previous couple of months, which saw bigger declines and several businesses in the Main Street area close.

“I don’t know if the decline has been arrested but we are doing better than a lot of others,” Fletcher said, citing “shop local” campaigns and the Christmas period as reasons to be hopeful.

Indeed, Marble Falls’ STR, down 3 percent year to date compared to the previous year looks favorable compared to places like Round Rock and Austin (both down 10 percent).

For the full story, see The Highlander.