Sales tax revenue collected by local governments in New York state rose 1.7%, or $130 million, in the first half of the year, according to a report released Thursday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
"For the last three years, collection growth in the first half of the year has been slow, with acceleration in the second half. Recent projections of the state's economy suggest this trend could continue for the second half of 2016 as well," the report said. "However, should sales tax collections not rebound as forecast, annual growth would be lower than in any year since the recession."
Overall, revenue collection growth slowed to 0.8% in the second quarter of 2016 from 2.6% in the first quarter,
"While statewide sales tax revenues continue to rebound slowly, only some parts of the state are seeing growth," DiNapoli said in a press release. "The slowdown in sales tax collection growth reflects a three-year trend. Collections trickle in the first half of the year, followed by more robust growth in the second half. And recent economic projections suggest that sales tax collections will pick up again in the second half of 2016."
In New York City, sales tax collections rose 2.4%, or $80 million, in the first half, compared to the same period in 2015.
"While stronger than overall local growth however, this increase was not as strong as it had been in the previous two years, when [New York City's] sales tax growth was over three times higher than that of the rest of the state," according to the report.
Data showed that growth was uneven across the state in the first half of the year. The Mid-Hudson region had the strongest growth at 2.7%, followed by the Finger Lakes region at 2.5% and New York City at 2.4%.
Meanwhile, sales tax collections dropped by 1.3% in the Central New York region, declined by 0.7% in the Western New York region and decreased by 0.1% in the North Country.
"Local sales tax collections were generally lower, due in part to lower gasoline and diesel fuel prices," the report stated. "Since mid-year 2014, local gas and diesel fuels tax collections are down $156 million."
On a county basis, sales tax collections increased in 34 of the 57 counties outside of New York City. Chautauqua County turned in the best performance with a rise of 11.6%, while Hamilton County saw the steepest decline at 6.8%.
Of the 16 other cities in the state with their own sales tax, 11 saw rises with Yonkers leading the way with a 17.3% increase due to a hike in its local sales tax rate to 4.5% from 4%. Gloversville's sales tax collections declined 5.1% in the first half.
