May sales tax allocations released by the Texas comptroller’s office July 9 show both Tomball and Magnolia’s allocations increasing year over year.
Magnolia saw another month of double-digit growth with an increase of 25.96% in allocations for May compared to last year.
Magnolia’s allocations for May increased by just under $50,000 from $191,000 to $241,000.
Magnolia City Administrator Don Doering said he is thankful residents are choosing to shop local.
“We are just very thankful; my theory is that people are shopping local,” he said. “I would also guess that because a lot of people are home; they are buying local groceries, gas and staying toward home.”
Doering said he is still cautiously optimistic about future allocations and hopes to continue to see positive allocations for Magnolia.
“We are projecting steady as she goes,” he said. “We don’t want to project higher numbers [than] would be practical.”
Tomball’s allocations rose slightly by 0.14% compared to May 2019; this comes after a decrease of 24.56% was seen last month.
Tomball’s allocations for May increased by $1,900 from $1.327 million to $1.329 million.
Tomball City Manager Rob Hauck said he was optimistic May's allocations would reflect better than the previous month's.
"We were optimistically hoping we would be in the single digits, even if that was nine or better, down in this last collection," he said.
Hauck said May's allocations show opening the economy in a thoughtful manner does make a difference for the city's allocations.
However, as reopening is put on pause in Texas, Hauck said it is possible to see an effect as portions of the economy are required to close.
"[These] are sales tax trends that are more volatile than I have ever seen in my time as a city manager," he said. "That just means we, by design and for good reason, are micromanaging our budget like we have never had to in my time."
Montgomery County Emergency Services District No. 10—which contracts with the Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department—saw a 15.08% increase year over year, an increase of just under $71,000 from May 2019 to May 2020.
The Westwood Magnolia Parkway Improvement District—which spans the FM 1488 and FM 2978—saw an increase of 11.52% year over year, an increase of just under $30,000 from May 2019 to May 2020.
