Sales tax numbers show gains, but pace slows

State sales tax allocations released in August show a downward trend in the Rio Grande Valley.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Wednesday he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $1.2 billion in local sales tax allocations for August, 10.8 percent more than in August 2021.

The allocations are based on sales made in June by businesses that report tax monthly and on sales made in April, May and June by quarterly filers.

In Cameron County, Brownsville led the way among larger cities with a 7.52 percent increase over last year, followed by San Benito (up 7.17 percent), Port Isabel (up 6.35 percent) Los Fresnos (up 6.16 percent), Harlingen (up 5.39 percent), La Feria (up 4.11 percent) and Rio Hondo (up 2.29 percent).

South Padre Island lost ground compared to last year, down 7.46 percent.

While most of these numbers are positive, they are below the double-digit increases most Valley cities have been seeing almost monthly for the past year.

In Willacy County, Raymondville was up 1.09 percent and Lyford was down 14.78 percent.

Mercedes had the best year-over-year return in Hidalgo County, up 13.70 percent, followed by Edinburg (up 13.46 percent), McAllen (up 10.01 percent), Mission (up 2.59 percent) and Weslaco (up 2.53 percent).

Pharr was the only big city in the county to drop from a year ago, down 6.96 percent.