November retail sales across Wood County trended better, according to the monthly report from the state controller’s office.

The report, released Jan. 10, is primarily for salesmade by retailers in November and reported to the state in December.

Six Wood County cities that collect sales taxes received a combined $542,292, while Wood County received $248,957 for its coffers.

The combined $791,249 is an increase of almost $50,000 from a year ago when $742,224 was received. The portion received by the cities rose from $508,359 last year.

Cities collect a 1.5% tax on retail sales while the county collects a half-percent. Combined with the state’s 6.25% sales tax, that makes the total tax 8.25% inside cities and 6.75% outside city limits.

Hawkins and Quitman started the year slightly behind 2023.

Hawkins received a rebate from the state of $36,689, a drop of 6.2% from January 2023 when $39,116 was received.

Quitman’s revenues fell by less than seven-tenths of a percent, from $77,201 last year to $76,669 this year.

Mineola received a January rebate of $268,945 for a gain of more than 10% from last year’s $244,183.

The county’s sales tax income of $248,957 is a 6.45% increase from last year’s $233,865.

Alba had the largest percentage increase with sales tax income of $33,712 compared to $26,842 a year ago, up 25.6%.

Yantis had a gain of 8.43% to $11,016 from $10,159 a year ago.

The Winnsboro rebate for $115,259 reversed a recent downward trend and rose by almost 4% from $110,855 a year ago.