Northwest Arkansas counties see sales tax revenue increase

BENTONVILLE -- Sales tax revenue in Benton and Washington counties was up by more than 7 percent in the January report just received from the state.

Benton County's sales tax receipts, which represent taxes collected in November, came in at $622,032, up 7.28 percent from the $579,841 received in January last year, according to the Department of Finance and Administration in Little Rock. Washington County received $522,990 in January, up 7.57 percent from the $483,415 reported in the same month last year.

County Tax Receipts

Bobby Hill, treasurer, said Washington County budgeted for a 1.5 percent increase in sales tax for 2015 with the budget projection pegged at $6,306,000. The county collected $6,228,583 in sales taxes last year, with the final collection exceeding the 2014 budget by 2.5 percent, Hill said. Benton County budgeted for no increase in sales tax revenue for 2015, leaving the expected revenue at $7.3 million, the same amount budgeted for in 2014. Benton County collected $7,478.181 in sales taxes in 2014.

Source: Staff Report

Bobby Hill, treasurer for Washington County, said this year's January receipts were a significant improvement over the same months in recent years.

Correction

A previous version of this story misstated Bobby Hill's title. The error has been corrected.

"This was our best showing since 2011," Hill said.

The early returns in 2014 were influenced by bad weather in the last few months of 2013, Hill said.

"Last year we had a lot of bad weather," he said. "This year we haven't had the snow days we had last year.

"We want to be conservative with the numbers. It could continue like that for the rest of the year or we might have some months when it's up and some months when it's down. You never know what the numbers are going to be, but for January we're real pleased."

Benton County officials also were pleased about the January report, but they remained cautious about the year's revenue. The Quorum Court chose to keep the projected sales tax revenue flat at $7.3 million for 2015. Barry Moehring, justice of the peace for District 15, said he's inclined to leave the budget projection as it is.

"I again remain cautiously optimistic," Moehring said. "Our economy in Northwest Arkansas is doing well and remains strong. I think we're going to have a good revenue year.

"It's too early to see if there's a trend. We did have some up and down months last year. I think we need to see what the trend lines are."

Tom Allen of District 4 and chairman of Benton County's Finance Committee, said he also wants to wait and see how the county's revenue reports go in the next few months before he'd consider any budget revisions.

"I'm thrilled with that report. That's certainly better than I expected," Allen said. "We had snow in the last part of November last year and on into December and January. I think we're going to have to have three or four months this year before we can see a trend."

NW News on 01/27/2015

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