Sales tax receipts: Both good, bad news

First the good news about the city’s sales tax receipts for the first month of this new fiscal year: They were above projections giving the General Fund a surplus of $7,028.19 as the city kick starts FY 2016-17. Not only that, they exceeded last year’s October receipts by a comfortable $67,517.31

Now the bad news: In that first month of the last fiscal year, which turned out to be somewhat of a disastrous one in terms of sales tax receipts-against-forecasts, the receipts were a comfortable 15.92 percent above what was forecast, even though those forecasts turned out to be on the, shall we say, optimistic side. This year’s October receipts, on the other hand, are only 1.45 percent above what our municipal financial gurus expected the city to collect.

In other words, to date this year, the city is $7,028.19 in the black while this time last year it was $67,517.31 on the plus side but finished the year more than a quarter of a million dollars — $281,897.11, to be exact — in the red.

So although this October’s numbers are reason to be pleased, they are in no way something to crow about. And, it must be admitted, as last year proved so dramatically, one month does not a year make. But, in the deep, dark recesses of my gut, I don’t feel all that good about this.