Affected entities include one local city and one emergency services district, a governmental entity that collect sales tax revenue on behalf of a local fire department.
The city of Jersey Village saw a decrease of roughly 21.9% in sales tax revenue, from $588,000 in April 2019 to $459,000 in April 2020. The city was projected to bring in $3.8 million in sales tax revenue when the fiscal year 2019-20 budget was adopted in September. With June's collections accounted for, the city has brought in about $3.1 million so far this year with three months remaining. The city had raised about $2.6 million at this same point last fiscal year.
The city brought in about $582,000 in sales tax revenue in March, which was actually an increase of 11% over the previous year. In its FY 2019-20 budget, the city expected sales taxes to make up 34% of overall revenue with property taxes, which could also be affected by COVID-19, making up another 37%. City Manager Austin Bleess has previously said he expects a budget shortfall but does not anticipate having to cut city staff.
Harris County ESD No. 9, which manages the budget of the Cy-Fair Fire Department, saw an 8.4% decrease in revenue, from $3.1 million in April 2019 to $2.9 million in April 2020.
The district was projected to bring in about $38 million in sales tax revenue in its FY 2019-20 budget, a projection that anticipated a $5 million increase in revenue from the previous year. It has collected about $19.2 million so far this year, as compared to $17.6 million in FY 2018-19, according to comptroller data.
Sales tax revenue makes up about 54% of overall revenue for ESD No. 9, while property tax revenue makes up about 35%. A representative with ESD No. 9 could not immediately be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, the city of Houston saw sales tax revenue down by more than $9 million compared to April 2019, or 17.2%, according to comptroller data. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County saw a drop in revenue of more than $10 million, or 16.4%.
A total of $690.4 million was distributed in sales tax revenue across Texas from the month of April, down about 11.7% from the previous year, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said in a statement.
