May sees worst sales tax deficit of the year

Kyle’s sales tax receipts took their worst hit of the fiscal year in May, accounting for nearly half of the year’s entire sales tax deficit in this month alone.

Receipts were a whopping $77,828.24 or 10.07 percent less than what was anticipated for the month. That amount represents 48.6 percent of the entire year’s sales tax deficit of $160,510.66 and is $21,198.57 more than the previous worst month of this fiscal year. That earlier drop-off was attributed to lower-than-expected sales during the Christmas holiday period. The May figures usually represent money consumers spend in March.

Although the actual receipts were 5.1 percent higher than May 2016, this month marked the third straight one where that year-over-year increase has also declined.

The numbers don’t seem to be a reflection of the local economy — although the city’s population has increased over this same time last year, it’s doubtful that is has increased by 5.1 percent in a single year; it’s more likely this shortfall was caused by overly optimistic financial forecasts by city number crunchers. However, in little more than two months we’ll learn if this year’s figures result in a tempering of sales tax receipts expectations when those same crunchers announce their preliminary forecasts for FY 2017-18 at the July 29 unveiling of the city manager’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.