Wood County cities booked gains in sales tax income for October. It was almost enough to make up for the deficits this year.

The October report from the state comptroller’s office is primarily for sales made by merchants in August and reported to the state in September.

The six cites that collect sales taxes earned $580,331 in October, well ahead of the $529,280 collected in October 2023.

That brought the yearly total to $5,419,763. Last year at this time, sales taxes had generated $5,447,855.

The cities collect a 1.5% tax on retail sales, one-third off which is directed toward economic development.

Wood County also collects a half-cent sales tax, for a combined tax rate of 2% locally, Combined with the state’s 6.25% tax, the total tax is the maximum 8.25%.

Wood County collected $259,094 in October, a gain of almost 9% from last October when $237,872 came in. For the year the county has collected $2,469,774, only slightly less than last year’s $2,481,257.

Alba’s monthly rebate of $31,915 was down almost 7% from last year and dropped the yearly total to a few dollars less than in 2023.

The 2024 total is $305,681 compared to $305,855 last year.

Hawkins saw its October rebate rise 4.33% to $42,150. For the year the city remains 2.6% below last year at $417,859 compared to $428,955.

Mineola recorded an October gain of almost 5.5% to $257,213. For the year the city moved slightly head of 2023 at $2,558,615, up from $2,546,366.

Quitman’s sales tax revenue for October fell 5% to $76,690. For the year the city is 4.5% behind last year at $784,966.

Winnsboro received $162,755 for its October rebate, a jump of more than a third from the $120,650 a year ago. That was almost enough to catch up for the year at $1,233,643. Last year’s October total was $1,237,763.

Yantis saw a 2.85% gain in October for a rebate of $9,335. The yearly total of $118,997 represents a gain of 11.34% from last year.

The state reports sales taxes on a calendar year while cities have an Oct. 1 fiscal year, so this is the first rebate in the new budget cycle.