DALLAS - Texas revenue for the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31 dipped slightly below projections after a steep drop in oil prices, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar reported.
At $109.5 billion, the combined revenue measured 0.2% below the $109.7 billion projected in the biennial revenue estimate Hegar provided to the state Legislature in January.
"State revenues for fiscal 2015 came in very close to the amounts we projected in January before the legislative session," Hegar said in the Sept. 10 report. "As we predicted, the Texas economy has seen moderate growth despite weakness in the energy sector."
While general revenue of $52.6 billion came out 0.1% ahead of forecast, sales tax revenue for the year came in 0.6% below estimates at $28.9 billion.
Oil production and regulation tax revenue came in 4.2% above the BRE forecast, while natural gas tax revenue was 20.6% below estimate. The 2015 fiscal year began Sept. 1, 2014 as oil prices were falling from their June, 2014, high of $105, settling around $45 in recent trading of West Texas Intermediate crude.
August sales tax revenues fell for the second time this year after a June drop became the first decline in 62 months.
At $2.6 billion, the August sales tax revenues were down 0.4% compared to the same month in 2014.
"The slight decline in sales tax revenue was due to reduced receipts from oil- and gas-related sectors, offset by growth from other sectors," Hegar said. "Higher collections from retail trade, restaurants and services indicated continued growth in consumer spending, while receipts from construction also grew."
From the August sales tax revenue, Hegar will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $638.1 million in local sales tax allocations for September, an increase of 1.7% compared to September 2014.
Reports show that the number of jobs are increasing as the workforce participation is declining in Texas.
"Texas' labor force has declined every month for the last six months — and by more than 100,000 people in June and July," said Wells Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner. "That didn't even happen back in the '80s," during the Texas oil crisis.
The state's civilian labor force, which includes employed and unemployed people, peaked at nearly 13.2 million in February. But nearly 151,000 left the labor force from February through July in the first string of declines in eight years. Texas added 78,800 jobs in the first seven months of this year.
Texas' labor force participation rate was 63.6% in July, down from a peak of 69.4% in 1995. Nationally, the labor force participation rate was 62.6% in August, down from a peak of 67.3% in 2000.
