The $6.56 million sales tax allocation for Frisco was based generally on purchases in May, the Texas comptroller’s office reported July 8. In July 2019, Frisco received more than $7.05 million in sales tax revenue.
The latest figure is an improvement over Frisco’s sales tax allocations for May and June, which were each down 12% compared to the same months in 2019. Those allocations came after social distancing and business restrictions were put in place in late March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Frisco restaurants and retailers were able to reopen at 25% capacity May 1 under guidance from the city and state.
The monthly totals put the city’s year-to-day collections just below last year’s receipts through this point in the year. Year-to-date, Frisco has been allocated more than $51.13 million in sales tax revenues, which is just 0.04% less than last year.
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.
Frisco’s sales tax allocations year-to-date are the eighth highest in the state. Among the cities that have collected more sales tax this year, Frisco showed less of a decrease over last year compared with every city except El Paso, which is up 1.54% compared to 2019.
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.
Other than hotel-motel tax revenues, Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said the city’s budget has fared well during the pandemic.
“Our sales tax [numbers] are still tracking as budgeted,” Cheney said. “Our budget forecast is definitely much more optimistic looking at it now than maybe we were thinking a couple months ago.”
Across the state, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar distributed $744.2 million in local sales tax allocations for July to cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose. That total was a 2.6% decrease compared to July 2019.
