Sales tax collections across Wood County continue to show a slight downward trend from previous years.

Bucking that trend are the county’s two smallest cities that collect the tax, Alba and Yantis.

For the first half of 2024, sales tax income for the six cities and Wood County combined have resulted in $4,659,847 being deposited into their accounts.

At this time a year ago total income had reached $4,725,109. Two years ago the income totaled $4,500,887.

Hawkins, Mineola, Quitman and Winnsboro have had their sales tax revenue drop from between one to five percent since last year, while the county’s sales tax revenue is off by 1.6%.

Monthly income for the six cities combined is $512,592 compared to $532,653 last year and $507,790 two years ago.

The county received $235,688 in June, a drop of 4.35% from last June when $246,408 was received. The 2022 collections were $230,969.

The sales tax income received in June represents primarily sales made by retail merchants in April and reported to the state in May.

The state rebates entities their shares monthly.

Wood County cities collect a 1.5% tax on retail sales in addition to the 6.25% state sales tax and the half-percent collected by Wood County.

Most use those funds to support economic development.

Alba sales tax income in June was $31,796, an increase of almost 27% from last year when $25,060 was received. The city collected $23,688 in June 2022.

For the year Alba has earned $181,548 for a 6.16% increase over last year’s $171,001. It collected $167,257 in the first half of 2022.

Hawkins income declined 6.75% for the month and 4.67% for the year. The city collected $44,017 in June, down from $47,204 last year and up from $36,138 in June 2022.

The yearly income is $248,430 compared to $260,626 a year ago and $208,520 in 2022.

Mineola saw a decline of almost 6% in the monthly rebate, from $250,351 last year to $235,473 this year. Two years ago receipts were $244,214 for June.

For the year the city has received $1,509,422 for a drop of 1% over last year’s $1,524,787. The 2022 income for six months was $1,435,797.

Quitman’s income for the month fell almost 10% while for the year it is down more than 4%. Quitman received $78,667 in June while the amount was $86,925 a year ago and $71,844 two years ago.

The six-month receipts for the city are $472,693 compared to $493,100 a year ago and $456,815 two years ago.

Winnsboro’s June rebate of $110,872 is down 1.5% from $112,546 a year ago. It was $213,748 in 2022. 

For the year the city has earned $712,428, down almost 2% from a year ago when $726,462 was received, The city’s six-month income in 2022 was $804,333.

Yantis booked $11,763 in June for a gain of 11.35% from $10,564 a year ago. Two years ago the city received $8,156 in June.

The city has received $74,148 so far this year, an increase of 15.5% from $64,201 last year. That figure was $52,069 in 2022.

For the year, Wood County has received $1,461,176, which is down 1.6% from last year’s $1,484,930. Receipts for the first six months of 2022 were $1,394,088.

Retailers can report sales tax receipts to the state monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually, depending upon the amount of sales.

Businesses in the cities in Wood County collect an 8.25% tax while those in unincorporated areas collect 6.75%.