ALABAMA: The January-July increase in the city’s portion of the countywide collections has added $425,358 more to the budget than during the same period in 2014.One could get whiplash watching the last few monthly Fort Smith sales tax revenue reports.The 1% street tax tally was up 11.6% in the May report, down 5.47% in the June report and surging back up to 10.7% in the July report.
But with the city’s portion of the countywide tax up 8.3% in the July report, city officials are likely not complaining about the roller coaster numbers ride. The countywide tax revenue that feeds the city’s general fund generated $1.394 million in the July report, up 8.63% over budget estimates.And for a city facing budget problems, January-July collections of $9.464 million is a welcome 4.4% increase over the same period in 2014.
Revenue from that tax funds a majority of the city’s general fund budget, with much of that budget paying for police, fire and other essential city services.The Fort Smith Board of Directors and city staff are working on ideas to address a looming shortfall in the city’s contribution for police and fire employee pensions.The city has in the first seven reporting months of 2015 collected $12.321 million on its 1% street tax program and the same amount on a 1% tax divided between bonds, Fire Department and the city’s Parks Department.
The amount is up 5.66% compared to the same reporting period in 2014, and is 6.5% above the budget estimate.The city’s 1% street tax program collected $1.81 million in the July report, up 10.73% compared to July 2014. The amount was 11.66% above the budget estimate. (Because the state of Arkansas has a two-month delay in reporting collections back to the cities, the city of Fort.
