From Kingsville to Driscoll, cities here joined the rest of Texas with a smaller sales tax rebate for September compared to the previous year.

State Comptroller Susan Combs said the state collected $1.75 billion in sales tax in August, down 12.5 percent compared to a year ago. Cities’ share of that revenue was sent out in September.

Kingsville received $284,125 this month compared to $338,288 for the same period last year for a 16.01 percent decline.

Year-to-date revenue is $2,879,160 compared to $2,906,160 last year for a decline of only .9 of one percent.

Bishop received $13,781 this month compared to $16,460 last year for a decline of 16.27 percent, while year-to-date collections of $132,134 are 6.48 percent less than last year’s figure of $141,297.

Driscoll received $3,416 this month compared to $4,552 for the same period last year for a 24.94 percent decline. Year-to-date revenue of $30,349 is 12.99 percent less than last year’s figure of $34,883.

Kleberg County received $100,058 for September compared to $136,871 for the same period last year for a 26.89 decline, while year-todate revenue is $1,043,880, which is down 8.52 percent compared to last year’s figure of $1,141,223.

“Monthly sales tax collec- tions continue to decline as most major sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, construction and retail trade, continue to struggle,” Combs said.

“For fiscal 2009, which began in September 2008, state sales tax collections totaled $20.9 billion. Collections grew through January 2009, but monthly declines since that time resulted in overall collections dropping by 2.7 percent for the state fiscal year,” she said.

By comparison, September sales tax revenue for the City of Alice was down 47 percent from last year and total revenue for the year was down 25.8 percent.

Corpus Christi’s latest sales tax paycheck was down 15.45 percent and year-todate numbers were down 5.33 percent.

Neighboring Jim Wells County experienced a 47.5 percent decline for September compared to last year and year-to-date numbers were down 26.86 percent.

Local governments received $428.3 million in monthly sales tax allocations on Monday, a 12.9 percent decrease compared to a year ago. So far this calendar year, local sales tax allocations are down 3.3 percent compared to the same period in 2008.

Combs sent monthly sales tax allocations of $290.3 million to Texas cities, down 12.2 percent compared to last year. Texas counties received sales tax allocations of $25.8 million, down 16.5 percent compared to a year ago.

The 152 special purpose taxing districts around the state are getting $16.4 million in sales tax revenue, a decrease of 11.6 percent compared to a year ago. Ten Texas transit systems will get $95.8 million in sales tax, down 14.4 percent compared to a year ago.

The state and local sales tax figures represent sales that occurred in July.