The City of Tulsa’s sales tax revenue for mid-February to mid-March, as reported by the Oklahoma Tax Commission, is 13 percent above the same period last year.
The City received $18,485,049, based on a 3.167 percent tax rate from the Oklahoma Tax Commission this month. That compares to $15,504,703, based on a 3 percent tax rate in April of 2011.
The percentage sales tax increase was adjusted for the change in rates from 3 percent to 3.167 percent, as the City began to receive an additional 0.167 percent that had been collected for a Tulsa County funding package. The 0.167 percent now goes toward projects in the 2008 Fix Our Streets package. The change does not affect the City’s general fund, which pays for many day-to-day operating expenses and is still being collected at the same 2 percent rate. The third penny pays for designated capital projects.
For the fiscal year-to-date, since July 2011, the City has received $181,848,067 in sales taxes, or 9 percent more than the $166,249,341 received last year by this time.
“We are in the middle of budget discussions for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, and are anticipating increases in many expenses, such as healthcare, as well as the expiration of grants. In order to keep the same level of public safety support, the upcoming budget will have to depend much more on the general fund for funding,” Mayor Dewey Bartlett said. “We will also remain conservative in future budget estimates as we could potentially see an impact in our local sales tax revenues from uncertainties surrounding the U.S. Postal Service Facility closing and American Airlines reorganization.”
City Finance Director, Mike Kier noted, “When comparing the historic data for sales tax for April 2012 at the 3 percent rate, revenue is just 1.4 percent more than April 2008, before the Great Recession. The total collection for the first 10 months for fiscal year 2012 is nearly the same as the same period in fiscal year 2009.”
Use taxes received in April 2012 totaled $1.7 million, compared with $1.4 million received during the same period last year.