Southlake's 2020 sales tax revenue surpasses 2019; upward trend continues into 2021

The city of Southlake’s sales tax revenue came out to be higher in 2020 than in 2019, according to the Texas comptroller's office, and is on track to surpass those numbers in 2021.

For June, Southlake reported over $2.7 million in sales tax—a 41.6% increase compared to this time last year. So far, numbers for 2021 show an increase not just from 2020, but also from 2018 and 2019. The city recorded around $2 million in June 2018 and over $2.4 million in June 2019.

“It’s a very good sign that things are recovering,” said Sharen Jackson, chief financial officer for the city of Southlake. “It would be one thing if it was just higher than 2020 ... but to see that it's higher over three year is definitely a great indication that we're recovering quite well.”

And although sales tax in 2020 proved to be lower than expected, the city ended up with 2% more revenue than in 2019, Jackson said.

“Because we started the year really strong, that's how it carried us through [2020] that we ended slightly better [than in 2019],” she said.

Jackson attributes the rapid recovery to the city’s diverse economy, which allowed it to draw in revenue from multiple sources.

According to the office of the Texas comptroller of public accounts, this trend toward growth has been seen across the state. On June 9, Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced $907.6 million in monthly sales tax revenue was distributed to local governments. This is a 31.5% increase from June 2020.

Despite the upward trend in sales taxes seen by Southlake, Jackson said the upcoming budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year will remain conservative because sales taxes can be volatile.

“It definitely will assist with maybe some other areas that are still slow to recover,” she said.