OKC sales tax revenue is up again

Oklahoma City’s sales tax revenue was up 3.4 percent for the September reporting period.

It is the fifth consecutive monthly increase after a slide that persisted for 18 months.

Some perspective is warranted, however, said Doug Dowler, Oklahoma City’s budget director.

Dowler said the city received $18,069,788.89 for the general fund, the account for most day-today operating expenses.

That compares to $18,095,080 received in September 2013, before the oil-and-gas business slumped.

“So you can see we are just a bit below the sales tax we received four years ago,” he said.

Still, revenue exceeded the city’s budget target for September by nearly $250,000.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2018, the city is nearly $830,000, or 1.5 percent, ahead of projections for2 percent growth, Dowler said.

The city began the fiscal year on July 1 with workforce reductions, including several layoffs.

A general hiring freeze continues and authorized positions in the police and fire departments are frozen, meaning they remain in the budget but cannot be filled.

Other austerity measures have included taking fire rigs, primarily brush pumpers, out of service temporarily to save on overtime.

Sales tax is the city’s single-largest revenue source and is relied upon for day-to-day services, such as police and fire protection.

Dedicated sales taxes also support police and fire services, and a 1-cent sales tax, approved by voters in 2009, funds MAPS 3 capital projects — such as the downtown park, convention center and streetcar system.

Voters will decideTuesday on proposals to extend the MAPS sales tax for 27 months, for streets, and to increase the overall sales tax by a quarter-cent, primarily to hire more police officers and firefighters.

The city receivedslightly more than $35 million altogether for September from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, after the commission deducted $176,000 for processing and paid $27,700 in interest.

Sales tax revenue received in September reflects business activity the last two weeks of July and first two weeks of August.