Whitfield sales tax collections dip in November

Published 8:16 am Friday, December 31, 2010

Whitfield County received $1.1 million in sales tax in November from the state. County Finance Director Ron Hale describes that as about 25 percent, or $400,000, below November 2009. But he says last year was unusual, with the traditional Christmas spike in sales tax collections coming in November instead of December.  He says he expects the sales tax spike will be in December this year.

“Based on the overall retail sales reports that showed this shopping season as one of the best ever, we may even see more come into the county than last year,” he said in an e-mail to members of the Board of Commissioners.

Hale said sales tax collections have been averaging between $1.15 million and $1.25 million a month in 2010.

“Last year, we had right at $13 million in total sales tax for the year,” Hale said. “We are on a pace right now to have about $14.3 million in sales tax. If we get a really good Christmas sales collection, we could hit around $14.5 million.”

While sales tax collections have bounced back from the worst period of the recession, they haven’t rebounded as much as county officials had planned.

“We budgeted $15 million, and we are going to come in under budget as I’ve been warning the commissioners in my monthly financial reports,” Hale said.