The $8.57 million sales tax allocation for Frisco was based generally on purchases in September, the Texas State Comptroller’s Office reported Nov. 12. In November 2019, Frisco received more than $8.24 million in sales tax revenue.
The latest figure is an improvement over Frisco’s sales tax allocation for October, which was down by nearly 3% as compared to the same month in 2019. In August, Frisco saw a nearly 10% rise in sales tax revenue based generally on purchases in June. Frisco restaurants and retailers were able to begin reopening at 25% capacity May 1 in accordance with guidance from the city and state. However, when coronavirus cases surged throughout the state in late June, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order June 26 that forced all Texas bars to close. The order also required restaurants to return to a maximum of 50% capacity.
Frisco saw a nearly 9% decrease in sales tax revenue in September, based generally on purchases in July.
On Sept. 17, Abbott issued an order allowing restaurants, retailers and certain other businesses to expand capacity to 75% beginning Sept. 21.
For the fiscal year 2020-21 budget, which Frisco City Council approved Sept. 15, staff budgeted only a 1% increase in city sales tax revenue.
During the Nov. 17 council meeting, Frisco Chief Financial Officer Anita Cothran said the city ended FY 2019-20 with around $5 million in excess revenue in the general fund. She credited federal funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act as the reason the city was able to finish the fiscal year "better than we projected."
Cothran also noted a positive beginning to FY 2020-21 in the sales tax front.
"For the two months of the new [fiscal] year, we're almost 1% higher than last year," she said. "I think that's positive, considering the times that we're in."
The latest monthly total puts the city’s year-to-date collections just above last year’s receipts through this point in the year. Year to date, Frisco has been allocated more than $82.67 million in sales tax revenue, which is 0.25% more than last year.
Sales tax receipts make up nearly 25% of Frisco’s total revenue in its FY 2020-21 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 more of an increase over last year as compared with every city except El Paso, which is up 2.74% as compared to 2019.
Across the state, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar distributed $890.5 million in local sales tax allocations for November to cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts. That total was a 4.8% increase as compared to November 2019.
