Livingston tax receipts continue upward trend

LIVINGSTON -- Livingston Parish continued its run of consecutive increases in sales tax receipts in September, parish records show.

That makes 23 consecutive months in which the parish's receipts have gone up when compared with the same months a year earlier.

Parishwide collections rose 9 percent relative to September collections last year, according to the records.

The continuation of the increase is important in helping the School Board deal with reductions in state funds and helping many governmental agencies deal with storm-related expenses, said Mike Curtis, who heads the parish's sales tax collection program.

The increase would have been even larger if there hadn't been a drop of 3 percent in taxes from motor vehicle sales, he said.

Still, a 9 percent increase for the month and a healthy quarter is welcome going into the Christmas season, Curtis said.

For the third quarter of the calendar year, sales tax receipts totaled almost $18.6 million, which was an increase of 12 percent compared withto the third quarter of 2011.

The local agencies that collect sales taxes in the parish took in $5.9 million in September on the heels of $6 million in August collections, which were up 12 percent when compared with the previous year.

The collections by the parish from retailers in September represent retail sales that occurred in August.

The Denham Springs Economic Development District, which includes Bass Pro Shops and Sam's Club, saw its collections increase 101 percent from the previous year.

That is the third consecutive month in which tax collections for that district were about double the collections from the previous year.

Those months represent the period in which the new Sam's Club has been open.

The amount received by the DSEDD represents about 70 percent of the sales taxes collected from stores in the district, and that money goes to pay off bonds used for infrastructure and for construction enticements to Bass Pro Shops to open a store to anchor that shopping center.

The rest of the sales taxes collected in that shopping center go to other agencies.

The parish's 3 percent hotel and motel tax also had another strong month, showing a 41 percent increase after increases of 21 percent and 19 percent in the previous two months, according to parish records.

Among municipalities, the town of Springfield had an increase of 23 percent and is up 16 percent for the quarter.

The town of Livingston showed a 6 percent increase and is up 12 percent for the quarter.

The city of Denham Springs had a 4 percent increase and is up 3 percent for the quarter.

Sales taxes receipts for the city of Walker showed no increase for the month, but are up 5 percent for the quarter.

The town of Albany had a 6 percent decrease and is down 5 percent for the quarter.

The Livingston Parish School Board's 2 percent tax receipts were up more than 6 percent as were receipts for the Sheriff's Office and the Parish Council.