Livingston sales tax collections strong again
LIVINGSTON — Livingston Parish’s January sales tax records show another strong month of collections, and parish officials predict that the opening of two big-box stores in the next few months would boost tax revenues at an even higher rate.
The opening of a Sam’s Club in Denham Springs and a Walmart in Watson should draw shoppers from the eastern side of East Baton Rouge Parish and should help to keep Livingston Parish shoppers at home, said Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks.
Currently, most Watson residents travel to Central for major shopping, and the Watson Walmart would tend to curtail that, he said
The Sam’s Club would pull some of its business from the Denham Springs Walmart, which won’t help parish sales taxes.
In fact, local governments will receive less in tax revenue on any sales that move from Walmart to Sam’s. That’s because Sam’s is located in the Denham Springs Economic District, where most of the tax collections still go to pay off $50 million in bonds sold in 2007 to set up infrastructure in the Bass Pro Shopping Center.
Once those bonds are paid off, which is expected to take about 10 years, 100 percent of the sales tax revenue would go to the agencies that normally would collect them.
Even prior to that, the additional sales tax collections from Sam’s Club should far outstrip the portion that goes to the economic district to pay bonds, said Denham Springs Mayor Jimmy Durbin.
The Sam’s Club is expected to draw customers from St. Helena Parish, western Tangipahoa Parish and the eastern part of Baton Rouge, he said.
That store, which will be the biggest Sam’s Club in the state, also would attract Livingston Parish residents who currently travel to the Sam’s Club store in Baton Rouge, Durbin said.
Even before the opening of those two stores, the parish saw an 18 percent increase in tax collections in December and a 9 percent increase in January when compared with the same months from a year earlier.
Tax collections by government for January 2012, which are based on sales that occurred in December, amounted to almost $6.8 million. A year earlier, collections were $6.2 million.
“If you think things are good now, hold on to your hat,” said Mike Curtis, who heads Livingston Parish’s sales tax collection program. “It’s going to be a good ride.”
Curtis said he believes the recent sales numbers represent a strengthening in the local economy that will continue.
“I think we are going to return to our heyday sooner than later,” Curtis said. “It’s getting more difficult to keep the lid on the excitement about where we are, compared to where we were.”
Sales already have strengthened, and the opening of the two major stores will just add to that, he said.
“I don’t see anything but positive from here on through the rest of the fiscal year,” which ends in June, Curtis said.
The Watson Walmart should help boost sales tax revenue in April, May and June, he said, adding that he hopes parishwide sales tax collections end this fiscal year up 10 percent.
Currently, they are up a little less than 8 percent for the fiscal year.
For the calendar year, parishwide sales were up 7 percent, parish records show.
The Sam’s Club is scheduled to open in June, said Rick Foster, Denham Springs’ building official.
Curtis said that means the large influx of sales tax revenue expected from Sam’s Club should make next fiscal year even better than this one.
The new Sam’s and Walmart should provide mostly “new money adding to the sales increase we are already having,” Curtis said.
“It couldn’t come at a better time, when the School Board is suffering from lack of state funding,” and is having to become more reliant on local taxes, Curtis said.