Sales tax collections down despite season

Lebanon took two hits in sales tax revenue in November, but remains consistent with growth compared to a year ago.

Voters turned down a measure on the ballot in the Nov. 6 general election that would have increased the city’s sales tax by ½ cent and potentially bring in about $3 million in additional revenues earmarked to repair problematic roads and flooding.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue released Tuesday sales tax revenues for Wilson County that showed Lebanon’s total for November decreased as compared to October during a month that included pre-Christmas sales and Black Friday.

The report showed November total collections in Lebanon were $1.412 million compared to $1.423 million in collections for October, a decrease of nearly $20,000.

Overall, however, Lebanon has seen increases in sales tax revenues for the past two months compared to the same months last year. In November, city records show an increase of 7 percent compared to November 2011.

Overall, it’s running pretty steady,” said Lebanon Mayor Philip Craighead. “We are running about 2 percent greater in sales tax revenues compared to last year at this time and 4 percent overall for the year. But it has kind of leveled out. Next month, we feel like it should be up. Even though we are looking at reports for November, we are actually seeing October figures.

“I wish it was up even higher, but you never know. At least it’s still moving forward.”

According to state revenue department figures, November was a down month for Wilson County as a whole for sales tax collections. Total collections were down about $200,000 – from $2.92 million in October to $2.72 million in November.

In Mt. Juliet, sales tax collections were down nearly $100,000 – from $1.12 million in October to $1.02 million in November.

It’s something Mt. Juliet Mayor Ed Hagerty refuses to believe.

“I’m very surprised,” said Hagerty, who had not seen the sales tax report himself Tuesday. “Providence Marketplace and Mt. Juliet in general had an enormous Black Friday. We had the opening of Academy Sports. It totally defies logic. It can’t even possibly be correct.”

Watertown also suffered about a $3,000 decline in collections in November compared to October. November’s collections totaled nearly $18,000 compared to nearly $21,000 collected in October.

Unincorporated areas of Wilson County showed a decline from about $356,000 in October to about $282,000 in November.