Parish hotel tax revenue up 15 percent last month

St. Mary Parish overall sales tax collections were down in May compared to the previous year for the seventh straight month. But hotel-motel sales tax revenues rose roughly 15 percent in May after six months in a row of declining collections, according to the May sales tax report.
May collections for the parish’s 4.3 percent sales tax totaled about $3.15 million compared to the $3.64 million collected in May 2014, the report stated. Sales taxes dropped 13.5 percent compared to May 2014.
Hotel-motel tax collections rose 15.2 percent in May compared to May 2014, with revenues totaling $71,283 in May 2015, according to the report. Hotel sales tax revenues had been down each month compared to the previous year since December 2014 with the biggest monthly dip, of about 16 percent, occurring in March.
Bob Harrison, general manager of Hampton Inn & Suites in Morgan City, said the hotel’s last three months of business “have been better than what the taxes were saying.” Harrison is also chairman of the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce.
The hotel’s revenues for the past three months have been steadily increasing, Harrison said.
Harrison hasn’t seen the significant downturn in business that people have been talking about, he said.
“We’ve seen a little bit of downturn but not much,” Harrison said.
The hotel gets a wide variety of business, not just from the oil and gas industry, including families, reunions and consistent travelers, Harrison said.
May’s decrease marked the seventh consecutive month the parish has seen declining sales tax collections going back to November 2014.
April sales and use tax collections brought in $3.6 million down from the $4.3 million collected in April 2014.
During that time period, St. Mary Parish Sales and Use Tax Director Jeffery LaGrange has attributed the decreasing collections to low oil prices, which has caused a downturn in the oil and gas industry.
The following occupational licenses were filed in May: St. Mary Parish, $18,056; city of Morgan City, $13,827; city of Franklin, $1,532; city of Patterson, $1,209; town of Berwick, $1,159; town of Baldwin, $253.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com