Sales Taxes up for April

People across Orange County are continuing to spend money, even with inflation, as sales taxes in February rose more than the inflation rate.

The Texas Comptroller's Office has sent the payments to the public entities that collect the taxes and even the city of Pinehurst saw a nice increase. That city has had declines in sales taxes during the past few years, but has been adding new businesses.

The U.S. Bureau of Statistics reports the inflation rate in February was 7.9 percent. It increased to 8.4 percent in April. The city, county, and special district sales taxes do not include gasoline taxes, which are state and federal taxes.

Orange County Emergency Services District 3, though, had a decrease. The ESD is for the Little Cypress Fire and Rescue Department and it is the only special purposes district in the county with a sales tax. Voters approved the 1.5 percent sales tax more than a decade ago. The sales taxes are collected only within the boundaries of the district.

ESD 3 collected $15,052 for February, down $2,162 from the $17,218 collected in February 2021. The fire department is now at $86,764 collected during the first four months of 2022, a decrease of $13,522 from the $100,286 last year.

Other entities collections are:

Bridge City with a 1.5 percent sales tax has $148,241 for February, compared to $133,006 in February 2021, an increase of 11.45 percent. The city has a total of $735,660 for the year to date, an increase of 11.48 percent from the $659,887 last year

The city of Orange has a 1.5 percent sales tax and collected $544,646 from February sales, up 20.98 percent from $450,166 collected in February 2021. The city is now at $2.53 million for the year to date, compared to $2.13 million for the same period last year, an increase of 18.59 percent.

Pinehurst collected $51,400 in February with a 1.5 percent sales tax. The amount is 42.15 percent more than the $36,160 collected during February 2021 with $15,240 more. The city has $218,113 for the year to date, a slight increase from the $217,665 collected for last year.

Vidor also has a sales tax rate of 1.5 percent and collected $241,551 in February, up 9.7 percent from the $220,187 collected for February 2021. The city has $1.14 million collected for the year to date, with a 4.98 percent increase from the $1.09 million last year.

West Orange has a 1.25 percent sales tax and received $102,081 for February, a 13.7 percent increase from $89,777 for February 2021. The city has $462,862 for the year to date, a 7 percent increase from $432,452 for the same period last year.

Orange County collects a sales tax of 0.5 percent, which county voters approved in the 1980s to offset property taxes. The county collected $527,140 for February, up 20.66 percent from $436,861 in February 2021. The county is now at $2.35 million for the year to date, a 10.44 percent increase from the 2.13 million collected at this time last year.

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