Sales tax revenues continue slide

SDN Staff Report

February didn’t bring many Valentine’s for north Mississippi towns that depend on sales tax revenues to fund government operations.

In a continuing sign of how online shopping is hurting traditional brick and mortar operations, taxes collected on February retail sales were down in 59 of 92 communities across the region compared to the same month last year.

That included declines in Starkville, Columbus, Tupelo and every other major retail center except Oxford and Kosciusko and Oxford’s were up only a fraction.

Of the 33 towns that did see increases, most were small rural areas where gasoline and convenience stores are the mainstay. Those businesses often aren’t impact dramatically one way or the other by weather or other factors and especially not online shopping, experts say.

Larger retail centers where clothing, furniture and appliances are a bigger part of the retail landscape are more susceptible.

In the Golden Triangle area, Starkville’s collections were down 5.8 percent compared to the same month in 2017. In Columbus the drop was even more dramatic at 7.7 percent.

West Point’s numbers were down significantly, but part of that is due to a $19,000 monthly repayment the city is making for an overpayment two years ago. Even without that number however, the total would have been below the previous year.

Aberdeen, Eupora and Macon also were down while Ackerman increased.

Sales taxes are important to cities because those revenues make up between 40 and 50 percent of most town’s operating budgets, helping pay for everything from police and fire protection to pothole repair and parks.

In the last three years, most towns across the region have seen revenues stagnate as more and more consumers shop online. That trend has been particularly evident in the last year.

For instance, among the top 15 retail centers in the region, revenues in Columbus, Starkville, Tupelo, Corinth, Louisville, Amory, and Booneville are down. In areas like New Albany and Pontotoc where they have increased, they are up only slightly.

By contrast, prior to 2017, many of those towns saw annual increases of 2 to 5 percent over the previous year.