If the latest allocation of sales tax revenue is an indication of how well the economy is doing, then Kingsville is in much better shape than most of Texas.

The office of Texas Comptroller Susan Combs sent $618.2 million in local sales tax to Texas cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts, which is down 7.1 percent compared to sales tax distributions to local governments in February 2009.

The February allocation is based on $1.66 billion in sales tax revenue collected in January, which is down 14.2 percent compared to January 2009.

Kingsville’s allocation for February was $405,709.88 compared to $403,842.22 for February 2009, which is about a half of one percent increase.

Year-to-date city sales tax revenue of $673,731.51 is still 3.48 percent lower than last year’s figure of $698,055.87.

January state sales tax collections and February’s local sales tax allocations represent sales made in December, and also include earlier sales by businesses that report sales tax to the Comptroller on a quarterly or annual basis.

Kleberg County, which collects a half percent sales tax to reduce ad valorem taxes that fund the county’s annual budget, received $147,190.14 compared to $160,043.77 in February of 2009 for a decline of 8.03 percent. Year to date revenue of $245,734.27 is down 8.40 percent compared to last year’s revenue of $268,284.50.

Bishop’s allocation for February was $16,622.20 compared to $16,830.32 last year for a decline of 1.23 percent. Year-to-date city sales tax revenue is $26,528.42 compared to $29,303.82 last year for a decline of 9.47 percent.

Driscoll received $3,536 this month compared to $3,572.93 in February 2009 for a decline of 1.03 percent. Year-to-date revenue of $6,505.17 is 2.74 percent lower than last year’s figure of $6,688.81.

“Collections continue to be down in major industry sectors like retail trade, oil and natural gas production, construction and manufacturing,” Combs said.

“January’s sales tax revenue was down by double digits compared to January 2009, which was the third highest collection month ever and was also the last month of year-overyear growth,” she said.

By comparison, Corpus Christi’s February revenue of $5,884,361.36 is down 13.3 percent compared to last year’s figure of $6,787,453.80. Year-to-date revenue of $9,904,836.72 is 14.65 “ We will continue to closely monitor sales tax revenue, and although we expect further collection declines in the near term, it is anticipated the rate of decline will moderate and then return to revenue growth sometime in the second quarter of 2010,” Combs predicted.

The comptroller sent $417.7 million in sales tax to Texas cities, down 6.2 percent compared to February 2009 payments.

Texas counties received February sales tax payments of $35.1 million, down 15.1 percent compared to last February.