By Rupert Howell
Sales in Panola municipalities for the month of October were obviously good as sales tax funds disbursed back to those cities, towns and villages increased over the same period last year.
Mississippi Department of Revenue reports indicate the City of Batesville received $353,632 as its share in a monthly check, representing about one-fifth of the total sales tax collected, which is an eight percent increase over the same period of 2014.
The state’s year begins July 1 and since that time Batesville’s share of sales taxes collected has increased from $1,677,845 to $1,800,788 or seven percent while the state total averaged four percent for the year-to-date compared to 2014. Statewide disbursements were up only one-third of one percent for October.
These figures do not include any purchases to local businesses from Polar Express traffic as the train ride did not begin until late November.
Other Panola municipalities received the following amounts as their share of sales taxes collected during the month of October and disbursed to the municipalities in November with the percentage of increase or decrease following: Como, $13,340, +10; Courtland, $1,662, +11; Crenshaw, $5722, +46; Crowder, $1,997, -8; Pope, $3,129, +19 and Sardis, $29,951, +19.
Other nearby municipalities received the following amounts with percentage of change as follows: Bruce, $43,998, -5; Charleston, $30,317, +2; Coffeeville, $10,230, +2; Grenada, $355,578, unchanged; Lambert, $1,678, -9; Marks, $19,879, +3; Oakland, $6,154, unchanged; Oxford, $810,685, +7; Senatobia, $180,117, -5; Water Valley, $41,489, -3; and Winona, $75,683, -19.