Most Hays County cities see increase in sales tax allocation

All but one city in Hays County saw an increase in sales tax distribution for the month of May, despite the current economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 crisis. 

State Comptroller Glenn Hegar distributed $824 million in monthly sales tax revenue to cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose tax districts. The comptroller’s office stated that this was a 5% statewide decrease compared to May 2019. 

Hegar’s office expects June allocations to decrease even more because of social distancing measures put in place throughout Texas. 

“Widespread social distancing requirements were not in place across much of the state until late March, meaning the impact of those measures affected only a portion of the allocations for this month,” the comptroller’s office said in a press release. “The agency expects next month’s allocations, based on April sales, will show steeper declines compared to a year ago.”

San Marcos received a $3,741,141.91 sales tax payment this period — a 23.13% increase from last May. Kyle saw an allocation of $870,437.04, which is a 13.65% increase from last year. Buda took an allocation of $672,682.87 this period — a 2.95% increase from the previous year. 

Dripping Springs was allocated $261,219.88 for the May period, which was a 25.61% increase from last year. Wimberley received a $94,859.20 payment this period — a 13.93% increase from May 2019. 

Uhland was allocated $21,356 this period — an 8.74% increase from last May. Woodcreek received a payment of $6,301.42 — a 14.54% increase from May 2019. 

Niederwald saw a 33.16% increase in sales tax payment this period. Niederwald received an allocation of $5,671.73 this May. Last year, the city was allocated $4,259.33. 

Mountain City saw the largest percentage increase this period at 50.74%. Mountain City received a $1,765 allocation this May compared to the $1,171. 

The City of Hays was the lone municipality in Hays County to see a decrease in its sales tax allocation. The City of Hays received a payment of $2,767.87 last May but only received $1,839 this period.  

According to Hegar's office, sales tax revenue was $2.58 billion in April, which marked the steepest decline since January 2010. 

“The steepest declines in tax remittances were from businesses most quickly and dramatically affected by social distancing: restaurants, performing arts venues, movie theaters, theme parks and fitness centers, as well as department stores and boutique retail shops," Hegar said in a statement. "However, those losses were, to a degree, offset by increases from big-box retailers, grocery stores and online vendors. Remittances from oil- and gas-related sectors also fell significantly as oil and gas exploration and production companies slashed capital spending in response to the crash in oil price.”