Rockwall County cities report big month and year for sales tax rebate collections

Dec. 9—By Brad Kellar

Herald-Banner Staff

Santa came early in Rockwall as most cities in the county saw substantial boosts in their sales tax revenue, according to a report issued Wednesday by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

Rockwall received almost $2.78 million in sales tax rebate revenue this month, a 4.91% gain over the $2.64 million collected during December 2021.

The Comptroller's Office annually tracks 12-month sales totals between Nov. 1 and Oct. 31. During that time, Rockwall took in $34.7 million, an increase of 8.26% from the same period last year.

Royse City will receive a sales tax payment of almost $596,000 this month, a 9.35% increase from the just under $545,000 collected in December of last year. During the past 12 months, Royse City received $7 million in sales tax rebate revenue, an 18.56% increase above the almost $6 million it collected through the same point one year ago.

Fate is taking in $190,000 this month, an increase of 21.32% from the more than $156,000 it collected in December of last year. For the year, Fate has collected $2.46 million, an increase of 37.76% from the $1.78 million received one year earlier.

Heath is receiving more than $229,000 this month, which was 17.76% higher than the almost $195,000 collected in December 2021. For the year, the city of Heath has received $2.7 million, an increase of 17.75% from the $2.3 million received during the previous fiscal year.

McLendon-Chisholm is getting a December sales tax rebate payment of $54,000, a 48.38% decrease from the $104,000 received in December of last year. For the year, the city has received just over $1 million, an increase of 13.62% from the $883,000 taken in during the previous year.

Mobile City is expected to take in $6,178 this month, down 12.4% from the $7,052 collected in December 2021. For the year, Mobile City received $90,754, a dip of 22.04% from the $116,412 received during the previous year.

Along with property taxes, sales taxes comprise an important revenue source for municipalities in Texas.

Texas as a whole enjoyed a good year in sales tax collections. However, the comptroller pointed to inflationary prices as one of the reasons why.

Hegar said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.96 billion in November, the highest monthly collection on record and 11.2 percent more than in November 2021. The majority of November sales tax revenue is based on sales made in October and remitted to the agency in November.

"With persistently elevated inflation continuing to drive prices — and consequently revenues — higher, November sales tax collections were once again led by growth in non-retail sectors, with mining sector receipts showing the largest percentage increase from a year ago," Hegar said.

"Growth in receipts from the services sector also reached double digits, while those from restaurants grew at about the rate of inflation for food away from home," Hegar said in a report issued Dec. 1.

"Collections from the retail trade sector grew in November, at about the rate of inflation in consumer goods prices. The fastest growth in collections among retail trade segments continued to be from electronic shopping and automobile and parts dealers, while receipts from electronics and appliance stores and furniture and home furnishing stores declined from a year ago."

Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in November 2022 was up 13.3 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Sales tax is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 56 percent of all tax collections.

Details on the sales tax rebate totals received by cities in December will be included in Comptroller's report issued in February.