Officials: Nov. tax collections are good sign

St. Mary Parish officials are optimistic, based on November’s sales and use tax collections, that the parish’s economic activity is beginning to increase.

Parish sales and use tax collections totaled $2.68 million in November, down 1.8 percent from the $2.73 million collected in November 2015, according to the latest report. Each month’s sales and use tax collections are made on the prior month’s purchases.

Excluding collections from audits, collections dropped by 2.8 percent from November 2015 to November 2016.

But that drop is less than the 11.7 percent decrease in October, which saw collections go from $3.28 million in October 2015 to $2.9 million in October 2016. October collections declined 15.4 percent excluding collections from audits.

Parish Sales and Use Tax Director Jeff LaGrange said in an email that, after reviewing the parish’s top 50 remitters for November, there seems to be “a general uptick in activity across the board.”

“We still have a decrease (compared to November 2015), but it was not as large a decrease as we’ve been having,” LaGrange said. “It’s led me to believe that there was increased activity in collections because we weren’t seeing the double-digit decreases.”

Both automobile and retail collections have improved, while industrial taxpayers have shown “a little remittance,” he said. And several businesses that were among the parish’s top 50 remitters in November have not been there before or in a while, LaGrange said.

“While I can’t say that this is in any way a beginning of the recovery, it is refreshing that there is some increasing activity in collections last month,” LaGrange said. “We will certainly know a little more after the Christmas season.”

Parish Economic Development Director Frank Fink said people appear to be “more optimistic about the future” due to the outcome of the presidential election, Fink said.

Fink expects sales tax collections on November and December purchases to increase compared to collections on October purchases.

“I don’t know if that translates into the oilfield … because we still have a significant issue there, even with the price of oil around $51 a barrel,” Fink said.

Fink also isn’t sure whether December and January collections will exceed collections from the same months of the previous year.

“We are holding steady, at the moment, with about the same number of employees that live in the parish, so that may help a little bit,” Fink said.

November hotel sales tax collections dropped by 21.9 percent, going from $53,448 in November 2015 to $41,762 in November 2016.

Morgan City’s sales tax for roads had net collections of $56,017 in November, bringing the 11-month total collected for road work to $768,476.

September’s collections totaled $3.14 million, up 7 percent from the $2.93 million collected in September 2015. A one-time bankruptcy payment and increased collections due to financial audits of companies contributed to the increase, LaGrange said. Excluding collections from audits, September collections increased by 1 percent compared to September 2015.

That slight jump in September was the first monthly increase in parish sales tax collections since November 2014.

Third-quarter collections came in at $8.71 million, an 8 percent drop from $9.46 million collected in 2015’s third quarter. Collections dipped 10.2 percent excluding audits.

Second-quarter parish sales tax collections totaled $8.82 million, down 9.3 percent from the $9.72 million collected in 2015’s second quarter. Revenues dropped 8.4 percent excluding audits.

First quarter collections totaled $9.45 million, a decrease of 13 percent compared to the $10.86 million collected in 2015’s first quarter. Collections dipped 9.1 percent without audits.

The following occupational licenses were filed in November 2016: city of Morgan City, $18,206; St. Mary Parish, $1,348; city of Franklin, $1,060; town of Baldwin, $110; city of Patterson, $75; and town of Berwick, $25.