Northwest Arkansas counties report sales tax growth

BENTONVILLE -- Monthly sales tax receipts continue to increase for Benton and Washington counties, officials said.

Benton County sales tax receipts for August, representing taxes collected in June, were $737,437, according to Brenda Guenther, comptroller. That was up from $649,139 in August 2014, an increase of 13.6 percent, Guenther said. For the year, the county has received $5,374,361, an increase of $406,233 over the same period of last year, Guenther said. The county's sales tax revenue has grown by 8.18 percent this year.

In Washington County, sales tax revenue for August was $561,562, according to Treasurer Bobby Hill. That was up from $541,398 reported last August, an increase of $20,163, or 3.59 percent, Hill said. For the year, Washington County's sales tax revenue is $4,326,102, an increase of $235,301, or 5.44 percent, over the same eight months in 2014.

Washington County's sales tax revenue is on an upward trend, Hill said.

"We are continuing our good sales tax growth," he said. "We had increases in seven out of the last eight months and 16 out of the last 17 months."

Hill hoped for more from June collections because the University of Arkansas hosted a college baseball regional, but the looked-for boost didn't materialize.

Washington County targeted for a small increase in sales tax revenue this year, a 1.3 percent increase that would bring in about $6.3 million, Hill said. With the county on pace to exceed the budgeted amount, it will likely increase its sales tax projections for 2016, Hill said.

"It would be hard not to, considering how far ahead we are right now," he said. "What that final projection might be I can't say."

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and chairman of Benton County's Finance Committee, is encouraged by the growth in sales tax revenue, but he doesn't want to make any predictions for next year or commit additional money this year.

"I'm thrilled at the numbers," Allen said. "It seems to be a great indicator for the local economy, which is always good for our budget. I don't seen any point in doing anything with the budget at this point. If we have an excess of revenue we have a number of large projects coming up, like War Eagle Bridge and the new courts building, that we can apply it to next year."

Barry Moehring, justice of the peace for District 15, also is inclined to hold any additional sales tax revenue for future budget use, pointing to the same large projects mentioned by Allen.

"It's a great problem to have, but at the same time we know we have some expenses looming on the horizon," Moehring said.

NW News on 08/28/2015

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