HARLINGEN — Harlingen continued its robust sales tax showing in numbers released this past week for the month of July, up 11.89 percent over the previous year.
It was a remarkable month for larger Cameron County municipalities, with five cities showing double-digit tax allocation increases over their previous July numbers.
The outliers were South Padre Island, which still posted a strong 4.98 percent increase, and Brownsville, which saw its monthly sales tax allocations down 6.15 percent over the previous year.
Sales tax allocations sent to cities by the Texas Comptroller’s Office are rough indicators of the strength of a community’s retail economic base.
Cameron County’s big gainers were Los Fresnos (up 18.13 percent), Rio Hondo (up 16.95 percent), La Feria (up 11.21 percent and San Benito (up 10.44 percent).
In Willacy County, Raymondville posted a gain of 1.06 percent over the previous July, and Lyford was up 26.75 percent.
In Hidalgo County, McAllen showed a strong gain over the previous year with an increase of 4.75 percent, with Pharr up 2.82 percent and Weslaco gaining 1.17 percent.
Mercedes was down 13.87 percent and Edinburg was down 0.37 percent.
With few exceptions over the past two years, Harlingen has posted strong positive numbers in sales tax revenues. The city was up 4.78 percent in June, and for the year is up 4.75 percent.
South Padre Island, too, has been posting month-over-month gains, and is up 7.54 percent in sales tax allocations for the year.
Other Cameron County cities’ sales tax numbers for the past year show San Benito up 3.99 percent, Rio Hondo down 3.93 percent, La Feria down 3.76 percent, Los Fresnos down 5.05 percent and Brownsville down 2.54 percent.
McAllen, which was down 3.57 percent in its June sales tax allocation, remains down 3.14 percent for the year.
Mercedes is down 12.39 percent for the year and Edinburg is down 1.26 percent. Pharr (up 0.71 percent) and Weslaco (up 1.17 percent) have posted modest gains for the year.
Statewide, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced $668.3 million in local sales tax allocations would be sent to cities, which is 6.2 percent more than a year ago.
The allocations are based on sales made in July by businesses that report tax monthly.
