City officials cautious in spite of 'encouraging' tax revenue report
Jul. 28—The City of Stillwater's tax revenues for the new fiscal year are off to a good start. The City released a tax revenue report Tuesday that it calls "encouraging" even as city officials continue to temper their optimism, citing a lack of overall growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stillwater collects 3.5% sales tax on purchases made inside the city limits and the Oklahoma Tax Commission collects the same amount on items bought online and on construction materials and other supplies bought out of state then stored or used in Oklahoma.
Most of those revenues go into the general fund to support operations and city services.
July 2021 sales and use tax collections — based on transactions from May that were reported to the Oklahoma Tax Commission in June and apportioned to the City in July — totaled just under $2.8 million combined.
That's ahead of budget and an increase of $257,976 or 10.15% from the more than $2.5 million collected the same time last year.
The 2020 total was still a 4.8% increase from 2019, in spite of pandemic-related limitations and social distancing.
City Manager Norman McNickle previously said panic buying and stocking up on supplies, in addition to the efforts local businesses made to stay open, softened the blow and helped City revenues rebound quickly after the most severe part of the shutdown.
City officials have been cautious even in the face of good news throughout the pandemic.
In July 2020 McNickle told Fox 25 the City of Stillwater would continue to exercise fiscal restraint.
"This spring, with so many businesses shut down and big events (including Legends Weekend, graduations and Special Olympics) canceled, we anticipated the City's sales tax revenues would most like decline," he said. "We are pleasantly surprised to see we were wrong, but it's important to remember that we are not our of the woods yet."
Both sales and use tax were up for July 2021, with sales tax showing a 10.8%. increase in the most recent report and use tax showing a 3.88% increase.
Hotel room tax revenues were up 165.41% at almost $73,000 compared to $45,370 reported in July 2020 after most travel had come to a halt. Collections are ahead of projections for the year, another hopeful sign.
But the total is still much lower than pre-pandemic levels.
Expectations for hotel room tax collections have been lowered over the past two fiscal years.
The total budgeted amount for fiscal year 2022 is $500,000. Before the pandemic, annual hotel room tax collections since 2013 had averaged around $800,000, with collections reaching almost $1 million in 2014.
Businesses are open and events are once more being scheduled, but with vaccination rates lagging and COVID-19 infections rising due to the Delta variant, city officials are urging caution even as they celebrate the signs of life.
"The return of public activities and events and the rebound of businesses are hopeful signs," Communications Coordinator Jenikah Birdsong said in the announcement.
Twitter: @mcharlesNP
