The $5.99 million sales tax allocation for Frisco was based generally on purchases in April, the Texas comptroller’s office reported June 10. The city’s $7.6 million sales tax allocation for May was also down 12% compared to the same month in 2019.
That allocation came after social distancing and business restrictions were put in place in late March due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Frisco was under a stay-at-home order for residents that also closed nonessential businesses for nearly all of April.
The monthly decreases have so far been offset by the city’s year-to-date collections, which have outpaced last year’s receipts by just over 1%. Year-to-date, Frisco has been allocated more than $44.57 million in sales tax revenues.
Sales tax receipts make up a little more than 25% of Frisco’s total revenues in its fiscal year 2020 general fund budget. That makes sales taxes the city’s second-largest revenue source behind property taxes.
On the whole last year, Frisco saw 3.12% growth in sales tax revenue compared with 2018, which had one of the city's lowest growth rates of the past decade.
Across the state, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar distributed $690.4 million in local sales tax allocations for June to cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose. That total was an 11.7% decrease compared to June 2019.
A news release from Hegar’s office said the June sales tax allocations throughout the state were the steepest year-over-year decline since September 2009.
Following the release of the May sales tax allocations last month, Frisco Director of Financial Services Anita Cothran noted the city has a strong, diversified sales tax base.
“We are confident that we will recover from this global pandemic,” Cothran said via email. “In the meantime, our staff will continue to closely monitor collections and make adjustments to our budget plan as necessary.”
She said city staff would be in a better position to project sales tax collections through the rest of Frisco’s fiscal year after the city received the July payment from the state.
