Bucking the statewide trend and local leaders’ projections, retail sales in Snyder and Scurry County rose in April according to data from Texas Comptroller Glen Hegar’s office. While statewide allocations — which are an indication of retail sales —were down nearly 12 percent across the state, the city and county’s allocations were up compared to June 2019.
The City of Snyder and Scurry County both saw increases in April, which were reflected in the June allocations Hegar’s office will distribute this month.
The City of Snyder will receive $280,231 in sales tax revenue this month, an increase of 1.33 percent compared to last June, when the city received $276,532 from the state.
Year-to-date the city has received just less than $1.6 million back from the state, compared to almost $1.7 million over the six months of 2019. That represents a 7.0 percent decrease.
Scurry County will receive $203,491 in sales tax allocations this month, a 6.77 percent increase from last June, when the county received $190,586 back from the state.
Both the city and county allocations are lower than May’s allocations, which were based on retails sales in March. Many non-essential businesses were ordered closed by state and local officials in mid- to late-March, so the decrease was expected.
Year-to-date the county has received just more than $1.2 million back from the state, a 1.72 percent increase — about $20,500 — over the first six months’ allocations last year.
Several cities in the region received higher allocations in May, although others and both Lubbock and Abilene saw drops.
Colorado City, Rotan and Roby all saw double-digit increases in their allocations, and Sweetwater’s allocation was also higher.
Lubbock, Post, Lamesa, Big Spring and Andrews all saw double-digit decreases in their allocations, while Abilene’s decrease was nearly 9 percent.
Hegar announced this week he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $690.4 million in local sales tax allocations for June, 11.7 percent less than in June 2019.
These allocations are based on sales made in April by businesses that report tax monthly.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread social distancing requirements were in place across much of the state in April, leading to the steepest year-over-year decline in allocations since September 2009.