The trend of increased sales tax revenues for most Wood County entities continued into the new year.

The state comptroller’s report for January, based primarily on retail sales in November, showed the seven government entities that collect a sales tax in Wood County earned $742,225 in January compared to $710,263 in January 2022.

Only the city of Winnsboro showed a drop, with collections totaling $110,855 compared to $118,045 a year ago – a 6% decline.

Six cities each collect a 1.5% tax on retail sales and Wood County collects an additional half-percent.

Combined with the state’s 6.25% tax on retail sales, that makes the tax rate 8.25% inside cities and 6.75% in unincorporated areas.

Most merchants report sales tax receipts monthly to the state which then rebates entities their shares. November sales were reported to the state in December and rebated in January.

Smaller retailers may report quarterly or less often.

Alba continues strong sales tax receipts with $26,842 in January, up 30.6% over last year when $20,558 was received.

Hawkins booked $39,116 for a 12.5% gain from last year’s $34,763.

Mineola saw a 6.27% gain from $229,759 in 2022 to $244,183 in 2023.

Quitman gained almost 10% with receipts totaling $77,201. They were $70,349 a year ago.

Yantis tax receipts of $10,159 for the month were up 18.8% over 2022, which showed $8,549.

The county tax resulted in $233,865 added to Wood County coffers, a gain of almost 2.5% from last year’s $228,236.

Overall combined  city tax revenues gained 5.5% from $482,025 last year to $508,359.

Sales tax receipts are reported on a calendar-year basis by the state while entities’ budget years begin Oct. 1.