Columbus and Starkville’s sales tax collections skyrocketed this month while West Point’s collections dipped slightly.
Columbus sales tax diversions increased nearly 20% from last month, while Starkville’s sales tax collections increased by about 15%. West Point saw a 0.96% decrease from last month.
Sales tax diversions run on a three-month window. Taxes are collected by retailers in the first month, sent to Mississippi Department of Revenue the next and then disbursed to cities and counties the third. Therefore, May reported collections reflect sales from March.
Columbus
Columbus received $1,059,298.58 from the Mississippi Department of Revenue this month in sales tax diversions, marking a 19.81% increase from last month ($884,100.20).
Last month’s sales tax number had Columbus projected to miss its $11,800,000 budget for sales tax revenue by $426,093. This month’s sales tax number has Columbus still on pace to miss its budget by a smaller margin of $258,883.80.
Last month, Chief Financial Officer Jim Brigham said that Columbus was OK from an “overall revenue perspective.” Brigham said the city’s property tax should make up for any lapse in sales tax revenue.
Sales and ad valorem (property) taxes are the two largest sources of revenue for the city. When one is suffering, the other can usually make up for it.
Sales tax diversions are up 5.52% from last year’s May collection of $1,003,808. This month’s revenue brought the city’s collections, year-to-date, to $7,694,077.48, marking a 0.46% increase from last year’s year-to-date collection of $7,658,161.51.
The city’s 1% motel tax brought in $42,094.51 this month, which marks an 8.12% increase from last month’s collection of $38,931.35. This is a 7.54% increase from May 2024 ($39,142.36). Year-to-date, collections are up 2.09% with $314,207.49 collected so far this fiscal year, compared to this time last year ($307,762.86).
Columbus’ 2% restaurant and lounge tax collected $260,187.41 this month, compared to last month ($201,823.02). This marks a 28.91% increase.
This month’s restaurant and lounge tax revenue is up 12.45% from last year’s May collection of $231,366.35. Year-to-date, the city has collected $1,710,056.56. This marks a 2.92% increase from this time last year ($1,661,515.14).
Starkville
Starkville brought in $903,089 in sales tax revenue this month, marking a 15.37% increase from last month’s collection of $782,759. This month’s revenue marks a 16.27% increase from last May’s collection of $776,653.
The city is still on pace to exceed its projected sales tax budget of $9.73 million by about $347,273.
So far this fiscal year, Starkville has received $6,718,182 in sales tax diversions, marking a 10.73% increase from this time last year ($6,066,772).
The city also saw an increase in its restaurant sales tax diversions, which assist in funding for economic development and tourism, and its hotel sales tax diversions, which fund the Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as parks.
Starkville received $314,790 this month in restaurant sales tax collections, up 23.24% from last month ($255,413). This marks a 13.99% increase from last year’s May collection of $276,142.
Year-to-date, restaurant collections are up 4.15% with $2,149,083 collected so far this fiscal year, compared to this time last year ($2,063,410).
Starkville’s hotel tax brought in $174,854 this month, marking an 18.01% increase compared to last month ($148,162). The city’s hotel tax revenue is up by about 13.44% from last year’s May collection of $154,131. Year-to-date, collections are up 3.85% with $1,222,182 collected so far, compared to this time last year ($1,176,793).
The fiscal year for Starkville and Columbus begins Oct. 1. West Point’s fiscal year begins July 1, meaning it has only one month of collections left for this budget cycle.
West Point
West Point received $240,733.21 in sales tax diversions this month, marking a .96% decrease from last month’s collection of $243,080. Sales tax revenue is down 6.5% from last year’s May collection of $257,495.98.
Year-to-date, the city has collected $2,773,021.51 this fiscal year. This marks a 0.95% decrease from this time last year ($2,799,672.87).
The city’s recreation tax brought in $40,341.10 this month, marking a 56.97% increase compared to last month’s collection of $25,698.84. Recreation tax is down 29.19% from last year’s May collection of $56,972.51.
Year-to-date, recreation tax collections are down by 1.87% with $354,462.19 collected so far, compared to this time last year ($361,228.42).
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
