DALLAS – Local sales tax revenues in Texas rebounded in March, beating those of March 2015 by 2.6%, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar reported.
Sales tax revenue for cities, counties, transportation authorities and other government entities came to $591.4 million, Hegar said. Those revenues were from sales in February that were tabulated in March and distributed in April.
The report on local revenues came a day after Hegar reported that sales tax revenue collected for the state also registered positive after five months of decline. Those revenues increased by 2.1%.
While revenues for five of the six largest cities in the state showed strong growth, those collected in the largest city of Houston fell 2.5% to $46.4 million. Houston is experiencing layoffs in the oil and gas industry amid a continuing slump in energy prices.
Midland in the heart of the Permian Basin oil producing region of West Texas saw its sales tax revenue fall more than 21% to $3.6 million.
"The cities of Dallas, Austin, Sugar Land and Fort Worth saw substantial increases in sales tax allocations that helped stop a four-month streak of declining sales tax allocations for the state overall," Hegar said. "Energy-centric cities such as Houston and Midland continue to see decreases in sales tax allocations."
The Texas Permian Basin Petroleum Index dropped to its lowest level since June 2010, falling to 225.4 in February down from 233.4 in January, and down 36.6% from the February TPBPI of 355.7.
The regional rig count in February averaged 151, down by more than 50% compared to its year-ago level. The most recent weekly rig count on April 1 dropped to 130, a decrease of 72% compared to November 2014.
