HARLINGEN — Cameron County’s larger cities showed flat sales tax reimbursement numbers for the month of September.
Data released by the state Comptroller’s Office yesterday showed Harlingen receiving $1.95 million for the month, a 1 percent increase over the same period last year. For the year, the city is up 2.42 percent in sales tax reimbursements.
The sales tax allocations which are returned to cities are regarded as a measure of a municipality’s retail sector strength.
In Willacy County, Raymondville showed a strong bounce for the month with a 9.67 percent increase, while Lyford showed a gain of 3.05 percent over the same period last year.
In Hidalgo County, McAllen showed a drop of 2.65 percent, Mercedes was up 1.23 percent, Edinburg was up 3.70 percent and Pharr showed a year-over-year increase of 6.56 percent.
Statewide, the $783 million in monthly sales tax allocations was up 0.8 percent over September 2015.
“The cities of San Antonio, Fort Worth and Plano saw noticeable increases in sales tax allocations,” said Comptroller Glenn Hegar. “The cities of Houston and Midland saw significant decreases in sales tax allocations.”
San Antonio showed an increase of 3.61 percent, Fort Worth was up 6.03 percent and Plano scored an increase of 9.16 percent.
Houston saw a drop of 3.21 percent for the month year-over-year, while Midland was down 16.73 percent.
For the year, sales tax allocations to all Texas cities are up 0.8 percent over last year.
Sales tax allocations/September
Gains
Harlingen — up 1 percent
Santa Rosa — up 101.69 percent
Los Indios — up 29.34 percent
Rio Hondo — up 16.24 percent
Laguna Vista — up 1.08 percent
Palm Valley — up 4.00 percent
Bayview — up 7.58 percent.
Losses
San Benito — down 2.81 percent
South Padre Island — down 5.33 percent
Port Isabel —down 2.97 percent
La Feria — down 1.58 percent
Brownsville — down 0.71 percent
Los Fresnos — down 22.83 percent.
Source: Texas Comproller’s Office
