SALES TAX REPORT: San Benito continues positive gains in August; year-to-date revenues up

By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com

August marks the third consecutive month that the city of San Benito experienced an increase in sales tax revenue.

Specifically, San Benito’s sales tax collections increased by just more than 8 percent in August, from $292,409.49 in 2013 to $315,937.53 in 2014. In July, San Benito reported a 3.25 percent sales tax gain with $312,052.90 generated in collections – this was up from the $302,218.33 reported during the same period the year prior. And in June, San Benito’s collections increased by 3.47 percent – from $334,736.21 in 2013 to $346,363.43 in 2014.

The three-month spike helped land San Benito in the green with more than a half percent increase in overall year-to-date sales tax receipts, from $3,256,949.11 in 2014 compared to last year’s revenues of $3,239,123.83.

Other Cameron County communities experiencing sales tax gains this August include: Brownsville (2.5 percent, from $2,779,594.84 up to $2,849,341.93); Harlingen (3.73 percent, from $1,666,036.36 up to $1,728,228.11); La Feria (37.8 percent, from $77,220.05 up to $106,409.78); Laguna Vista (31.97 percent, from $10,262.72 up to $13,544.68); Los Fresnos (34.16 percent, from $55,402.82 up to $74,328.87); Los Indios (43.08 percent, from $3,630.54 up to $5,194.64); Port Isabel (1.33 percent, from $191,563.05 up to $194,113.14); Rancho Viejo (18.71 percent, from $4,311.59 up to $5,118.68); Rio Hondo (13.19 percent, from $14,672.27 up to $16,608.00); and South Padre Island (7.77 percent, from $350,037.58 up to $377,266.93).

Cities reporting losses this August include: Bayview (6.32 percent, from $377.64 down to $353.75); Combes (9.7 percent, from $9,408.79 down to $8,495.49); Palm Valley (1.62 percent, from $4,264.64 down to $4,195.17); Primera (11.95 percent, from $10,682.96 down to $9,406.11); and Santa Rosa (5.56 percent, from $6,453.81 down to $6,094.41).

The Cameron County total for August 2014 was up by 4.35 percent (from $5,476,329.15 up to $ 5,714,637.22); year-to-date collections show that Cameron’s also experiencing a 3.43 percent spike from last year (from $55,328,582.42 up to $57,229,774.14).