February 14th, 2011
Holiday shopping brings record sales tax collections across county

STAFF REPORT

The Christmas shopping season brought record retail sales to San Marcos and Hays County, judging by sales tax collections reported by the state comptroller’s office.

San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs and Hays County all set monthly sales tax receipt records in the February allocation, which reflects retail sales activity in December 2010.

Combined, Hays County and its cities have collected $7,695,769.11 through February, up 11.5 percent from the same two months a year earlier.

The February allocation shows that San Marcos collected an all-time monthly record of $2,366,150.40. The previous record was $2,228,622.00 set in February 2008, reflecting retail sales from December 2007.

Hays County brought in $1,198,553.55 in February, up from the previous record of $1,108,762.90 in February 2010. The county has enjoyed ten consecutive months of year-over-year monthly sales tax increases.

Kyle reached a new record allocation with $377,556.98, while Buda set a record with $366,814.74. Kyle smashed its previous record of $333,589.97 set in November 2010, while Buda sneaked past its previous record of $366,219.71 set in February 2007.

Dripping Springs achieved its first six-figure allocation ever, receiving $111,583.55. The previous record was $97,845.02 in November 2010.

Every Hays County city except Wimberley had improved collections in February 2011 compared with February 2010. Wimberley had a slight drop of 0.23 percent from $74,100.72 to $73,924.16.

For the year to date, San Marcos has collected $4,025,690.81 in sales taxes, up 10.59 percent from one year earlier. In total, Hays County cities have collected $5,620,160.71, up 11.77 percent from $5,028,057.85.