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Sales tax allocations for nearly all of Burnet County’s municipalities continued to show staggering gains this month, a good omen for these communities as they engage in their budgeting for the upcoming fiscal year.
Total sales tax allocations for Burnet County municipalities for July 2021 were $1,572,025.73 — just slightly lower than last month’s allocation of $1,590,574.05 and an increase of $270,503.09, or 20.78 percent, above the $1,301,522.64 distributed in July 2020.
Like June’s figures, July’s allocations came from just a single month of sales tax collections. The alltime record for the county is the $1,785,107.82, set this May, but that was based on both monthly and quarterly collections.
For the year, the six municipalities which had collected sales tax both in 2020 and in 2021 — Marble Falls, Horseshoe Bay, Granite Shoals, Cottonwood Shores, Burnet and Bertram — all had sales tax allocations up by double-digit percentages.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced he has sent cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $893.2 million in local sales tax allocations for July, 20 percent more than in July 2020. These allocations are based on sales made in May by businesses that report tax monthly.
Burnet had sales tax receipts for July 2021 go up 9.34 percent from $251,259.64 in July 2020 to $274,730.11 this month. For the year, sales tax revenue is up 15.3 percent above last year, from $1,541,398.43 at this point in 2020 to $1,777,322.88 through this year.
Bertram had a 3.55 percent increase overall in sales tax allocations, going from $33,788.16 in July 2020 to $34,988.01 this month.
For the year, Bertram is up 13.2 percent from $213,589.86 received in 2020 to this point to $241,785.97 received through seven months of 2021.
The largest sales tax allocation, of course, was received by Marble Falls with $1,030,796.92 — an increase of 18.27 percent above the $871,544.73 the city received in July 2020. This is the fourth time in the past six months the city has received more than $1 million in sales tax allocations. Sales tax receipts make up the lion’s share of general fund revenues for the county’s largest city.
For the year, Marble Falls has collected $6,663,959.88 through seven months, which is 19.48 percent or $1,086,494.65 more than the $5,577,465.23 collected during the same stretch in 2020. If sales tax collections continue at this rate, Marble Falls will set a new record at the end of the year with more than $11.4 million in allocations.
Sales tax receipts for Horseshoe Bay were almost double what they were last July — up a prodigious 98.91 percent in July 2021. The city, which straddles the Burnet and Llano county line, received $164,503.31, up from the $82,701.92 received in July 2020. For the year, Horseshoe Bay has received $937,741.42 compared to the $745,279.76 received during the same period last year — an increase of 25.82 percent.
Granite Shoals saw sales tax revenues drop by 3.65 percent from $40,028.36 in July 2020 to $38,567.02 this June, the only city to see a decrease. For the year, however, sales tax allocations are up 10.51 percent from $227,116.39 received through this point in 2020 to $251,000.60 received up to this point this year.
Cottonwood Shores had sales tax receipts for July 2021 go up 16.46 percent, up from $22,199.83 to $25,855.72. For the year, Cottonwood Shores has received $145,393.42, up 26.73 percent above the $114,717.99 received through this point last year.
Highland Haven’s second-ever sales tax allocations appear on the chart this month as the city received $2,584.64. For the year, the city has received $4,429.46.
Four cities in Burnet County — Marble Falls, Burnet, Granite Shoals and Highland Haven — collect the maximum allowable sales tax rate of two percent, while Bertram and Horseshoe Bay collect 1.75 percent and Cottonwood Shores collects 1.5 percent.
Hegar announced state sales tax revenue totaled $3.16 billion in June, 18.1 percent more than in June 2020. Year-over-year increases for most tax revenues this month were affected by base effects: Yearago revenue collections to which this year’s collections are compared were severely suppressed by the pandemic. Compared to June 2019, sales tax collections were up 10.4 percent.
The majority of June sales tax revenue is based on sales made in May and remitted to the agency in June.
“Monthly state sales tax collections remained exceptionally strong, with receipts from all major sectors other than those related to oil and gas surpassing pre-pandemic levels,” Hegar said. “Elevated spending at clothing stores, electronics and appliance stores, sporting goods stores, building materials and home furnishing stores, some general merchandisers and online retailers continued, though growth in online sales and at big box merchandisers slowed as consumers returned to other physical retail alternatives. Remittances from food and beverage stores were constrained by declining sales of alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption, as consumers returned to restaurants and bars.
“Collections from electric utilities were up strongly, reflecting air-conditioning usage at shopping centers and office buildings that were subject to closure a year ago. Receipts from the manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors also were up substantially, reflecting continued strong demand for computer products and building materials. Receipts from the information sector remained below last year’s levels, due to the federal preemption of state taxation of internet access services.
“Receipts from restaurants again substantially surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with brisk business continuing at take-out-oriented establishments and modest recovery at some dine-in outlets. However, some dine-in restaurant chains continue to operate at lower levels due to permanent closures at some locations.”
Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in June 2021 was up 26.4 percent compared to the same period a year ago and 14.1 percent compared to 2019. Sales tax is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 59 percent of all tax collections.
Texas collected the following revenue from other major taxes, all of which were up sharply from a year ago due to base effects:
• motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $591 million, a record monthly amount; up 50 percent from June 2020, and up 39 percent from June 2019;
• motor fuel taxes — $315 million, up 26 percent from June 2020, and down 4 percent from June 2019;
• oil production tax — $363 million, up 339 percent from June 2020, and down 0.1 percent from June 2019;
• natural gas production tax — $159 million, up 689 percent from June 2020, and up 28 percent from June 2019;
• hotel occupancy tax — $54 million, up 137 percent from June 2020, and down 7 percent from June 2019; and
• alcoholic beverage taxes — $138 million, a record monthly amount; up 112 percent from June 2020, and up 12 percent from June 2019.
