Originally published on Feb. 21, 2023, on the Houston Chronicle website at https://tinyurl.com/2z99tzhj.
By Roy Kent
Staff writer
With tax receipts on the rise across the state, cities in Fort Bend County showed mixed results in the latest report from the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar recently announced he is sending “cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose districts $1.3 billion in local sales tax allocations for February, 9.3 percent more than in February 2022.”
The allocations are based on sales made in December by businesses that report tax monthly; October, November and December sales by quarterly filers; and 2022 sales by businesses that report tax annually.
“While state sales tax collections reached another all-time high, it is important to note that the rate of growth from the previous year was the lowest in the 22 months since the end of pandemic restrictions,” Hegar said. “This reflects slowing in the rate of inflation and slowing growth in real economic activity as well. Unfortunately, inflation continues to erode the purchasing power of Texas consumers as the consumer price index rate for December was 6.5 percent.
In Fort Bend County, Sugar Land continues to maintain its place as a Top 20 city in the state.
The net payment for the city is more than $7.2 million, up from $6.97 million a year ago. For the year, the county’s biggest city has received nearly $12.7 million. Both the monthly and yearly amounts are about 3.3 percent higher than the same periods last year.
Fort Bend County’s next two largest cities in terms of sales tax receipts — Rosenberg and Stafford — both experienced drops in revenue. Rosenberg is receiving more than $2.88 million which is down 0.63 percent. Stafford will receive about $2.26 million, down nearly 10.9 percent from last year.
Missouri City, meanwhile, is showing healthy growth with its payment of more than $1.55 million up 11.63 percent over last year.
Other Fort Bend County cities include:
• Fulshear — $782,160, up 12.12 percent over February 2022.
• Richmond — $956,893, up 10.99 percent.
• Meadows Place — $162,879, down 7.67 percent.
• Needville — $85,777, down 11.58 percent.
“Overall, retail trade receipts grew only slightly and at less than the rate of inflation for consumer goods,” Hegar said. “Within the retail sector, remittances from the electronic shopping segment led the way as people celebrated the holidays. Receipts from big box retailers and department stores declined, while receipts from dollar stores were up sharply from a year ago — with consumers choosing lower-cost retail options over other outlets during the peak of the Christmas shopping season.”
To the northwest, Katy saw its tax receipts trend upward. For the month, the city of Katy is receiving more than $2.3 million, up 15.68 percent of the February 2022 payment of $2.0 million. For the year, Katy has seen its sales tax receipts grow nearly 17.5 percent over last year’s payments with $4.1 million so far in 2023 compared to $3.51 million over the same period in 2022.
For more information go to comptroller.texas.gov.
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