Sales tax collections slump again

July’s St. Mary Parish sales tax collections showed the sharpest drop of any month so far this year. However, the parish’s economic development director says the good news is the parish is probably close to the worst of the economic crisis.

Parish sales tax and use collections in July totaled $2.75 million, a 21.7 percent decrease from the $3.51 million collected in July 2015. In July, officials collected $8,777 as a result of financial audits compared to the $139,057 collected from audits in July 2015, according to the latest report.

The second-highest monthly sales tax decline this year was in May at 16.2 percent. Parish sales tax collections have been lower each month of the prior year for 21 consecutive months.

Hotel sales tax collections totaled $40,489 in July, down 34.6 percent from the $61,926 collected in July 2015.

Morgan City’s road royalty tax collected $62,605 in July, bringing the year-to-date total collected for road work to $528,940.

St. Mary Parish Economic Development Director Frank Fink was surprised that sales tax collections continued to drop in July, despite labor force numbers beginning to plateau, he said.

The total labor force, which includes people who are employed or looking for work, appears to have leveled off within the past six months, Fink said.

Unemployment did drop in June to 10.1 percent, with 2,434 unemployed and 21,664 employed, according to the state Workforce Commission. Unemployment in June 2015 was 8.1 percent in St. Mary. May’s unemployment rate was 9.3 percent, with 2,188 people unemployed and 21,420 employed.

In January, the parish’s unemployment rate was 8.4 percent, with 22,214 people employed and 2,032 unemployed.

“I think a lot of the excess has been kind of removed from the labor force. We still may get some more layoffs, but I think we’re close to the bottom,” Fink said.

There are other reasons for optimism, too, Fink said.

Fink expects about 200 construction jobs to come to the parish with the building of a Cleco power plant in Centerville on La. 317 by the Intracoastal Waterway. Construction should begin at the end of the third quarter or beginning of the fourth quarter. Construction of that project will probably continue through the end of 2017, he said.

Inquiries about sites to locate businesses have picked up significantly in the past month, Fink said. In the past few weeks, Fink has provided data for five different sites for manufacturers to chemical plants.

“We’re going to be in a position to at least be considered. That’s been a positive, a big pick up in site requests,” Fink said.

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

First quarter collections totaled $9.45 million, a decrease of 13 percent compared to the $10.86 million collected in 2015’s first quarter.

The following occupational licenses were filed in July: town of Berwick, $3,928; city of Morgan City, $2,702; St. Mary Parish, $536; city of Franklin, $249; and city of Patterson, $132.