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Amarillo sees surprising spike in sales tax revenue

AMARILLO - More people are spending more money in Amarillo. It's a pleasant surprise that will help the city while planning next year's budget.
    
Everything that makes a city function is paid for mostly with sales tax revenue.

"Your parks, your streets, police department, fire department," said Amarillo Assistant City Manager Michelle Bonner.

Sales tax collections have increased steadily in Amarillo for the past two years, but the most recent report was still a pleasant shock.

"We budgeted for this year 48 million dollars," Bonner said. "So to be up two million or eight percent is great news."

Just last month, the city collected over $400,000 more than this time last year, and that's after the state and the Amarillo Economic Development Corp took their share.

The Amarillo Chamber of Commerce is thrilled that residents are shopping local.

"Amarillo gets it. We understand that we need to shop here locally, not only to support our fellow Amarilloans, if that's the way you say it, but also to support the businesses that continue to look here to relocate here," said Amarillo Chamber Vice President of Business Development Jason Harrison.

If the trend continues, the city could end up two million dollars richer than expected at the end of this fiscal year.

"That's a lot of money," Bonner said.

A lot of money that can go a long way towards fixing a lot of little problems.