FYE18: The drive for 2.5% has stalled out

Again, FYE18 has always been expected to be a down year for Norman Sales (& Use) Tax collections. All of the City Budget documents predict a 2.5% increase in sales tax revenues in FYE18, followed by an increase to 4% (or - inexplicably - 4.25% the latest NF Pro Forma budget) in FYE19 and beyond.

Baseline numbers: the City collected $9,646,527 via the Norman Forward Sales Tax in FYE17; a predicted 2.5% growth rate means we expect to collect $9,887,690 in FYE18.

We now have five months of sales and use tax remittances from the state in FYE18, and things aren’t getting better. November remittances (September collections) were down 0.52% over the same month last year, and that barely keeps us even (+0.22%) with last year

November remittance/September collection (NFST Sales + Use)

- FYE17: $811,645

- FYE18: $807,462

- decrease: 0.52%

Year to date, through November (NFST Sales + Use)

- FYE17: $4,051,920

- FYE18: $4,060,889

- increase: 0.22%

Since we have been basically treading water for four months now, we will need to grow at an accelerated rate to meet our yearly goal. In particular, the collections for the the rest of FYE18 will need to be 4.15% better than collections over the equivalent reporting period in FYE17. We need that FYE19 boost now if we want to meet projections.