Year-to-date sales tax collections in Columbus remain ahead of last year’s, but the city is still on pace to miss its budget projections for that revenue.
Meanwhile in Starkville, the city has fallen behind Fiscal Year 2025 on year-to-date general sales tax collections but is still on track to exceed its budget amount. Both cities’ sales tax collections fell this month.
Both cities’ budget cycles began Oct. 1. Columbus is projected to fall over $150,000 short of its $12 million projected budget. Meanwhile, Starkville is still on pace to exceed its $10.3 million projected budget by about $86,000, despite a decrease in collections this month.
West Point, whose fiscal year begins July 1, collected more than $3 million from general sales tax this fiscal year, exceeding its $2.9 million projected budget by more than $116,000.
Sales tax diversion runs on a three-month window. Sales tax is collected at the register in the first month, sent to Mississippi Department of Revenue in the next and dispersed to cities in the third. Therefore, June reported collections reflect April sales.
Columbus
Columbus received about $943,286 from general sales tax collections this month, representing a 5.72% decrease from June 2025 collections of $1,000,466. This also marks a 13.05% decrease from last month’s collections ($1,084,899).
So far this fiscal year, the city has collected about $8,887,052, a 2.21% increase from collections last year. Columbus is on track to fall about $150,597 short of its $12 million projected budget.
The city’s restaurant and lounge tax brought in about $237,561, up by 6.39% from last June’s collection of about $223,238. This is a 4.97% decrease from last month’s collection of $249,973.
Year-to-date, Columbus’ restaurant tax collection is up by 11.4%, with about $2,153,687 collected so far this fiscal year, compared to this time last year ($1,933,345).
Columbus collected about $49,040 via its hotel/motel tax, a 14.14% increase compared to collections from last June ($42,966). This is a 13.36% increase from last month’s collections of about $43,222.
The city’s hotel tax has brought in about $363,927 so far this fiscal year, a 1.89% increase, compared to this time last year ($357,174).
Starkville
Starkville collected about $838,853 in general sales tax this month, a 26.18% decrease from June 2025 collections of $1,136,300. This month’s collections are also down 13.20% from last month.
Last June’s collections were unusually high due to an audit adjustment made by the state Department of Revenue. This spike in collections was accounted for when the city created its projected budget for this fiscal year.
So far this fiscal year the city has collected $7,789,699, which is a 0.82% decrease from collections this time last year ($7,854,481). Starkville is still on track to exceed its $10.3 million projected budget by about $86,000.
Starkville’s restaurant tax has brought in $302,562, up 4.56% from this time last year. This collection also marks a 0.1% decrease from last month’s collections.
Year-to-date, the city has collected $2,529,125 in restaurant tax, a 5.89% increase from last year ($2,388,458).
Starkville collected about $179,306 from its tourism tax this month, a 8.31% jump from June 2025 of $165,547.00. This also marks a 8.44% jump from last month’s collection of $165,350.
Year-to-date the city has brought in about $1,446,225 from its tourism tax, a 4.22% increase from this time last year ($1,387,729).
West Point
West Points’s budget cycle began July 1, meaning this is the last month of its fiscal year.
West Point received about $270,318 in sales tax diversion this month, marking a 22.56% increase from June 2025 collections ($220,553). This is 0.59% drop from last month’s collection of about $271,928.
This fiscal year, the city collected about $3,061,433 from general sales tax marking a 1.56% increase from the last fiscal year ($3,014,524). West Point surpassed its $2.9 million projected sales tax budget by about $116,433.
The city’s tourism tax brought in $35,023 this month, a 6.31% increase from June 2025 collections of $32,944.39. This marks a 24.62% decrease from last month’s collection of $46,463.
This fiscal year, the city collected about $408,673 from its tourism tax, a 5.49% increase from last year’s collection ($387,407).
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