December another good month for city sales tax revenue
Sales tax numbers are in for the month of December and are good news indeed for the city of Yuma, observed City Administrator Greg Wilkinson.
December's sales tax revenue totaled $2.74 million, an increase of 6.8 percent from December 2010.
For the 12 months, the total collected was $30.268 million, an increase of 0.4 percent over the previous year.
December's increase was led by construction, good news not only for the city but also for the industry that was hit hard by the economic downturn, Wilkinson said.
But it also was a good month for retailers, he said, noting that sales tax revenue for that sector was up by 3.3 percent.
“The retail numbers show that business is doing better,” he said. “It was a really good holiday season.”
That follows on the heels of an improvement seen in November, when sales tax revenue was up by 4 percent, Wilkinson said.
He's hopeful that's a signal of better days ahead for the economy.
Coupled with steps taken by the city to trim costs, Wilkinson said that “next fiscal year looks to be fine” for the city. Some of the cost-cutting measures include installing solar on the Yuma Civic Center, Yuma City Hall and other city-owned property, swapping out light bulbs and paring back on specialty vehicles to save on maintenance and replacement.
“We're still not back where we were,” he said. “But we're more efficient. That will carry over.”
As another measure of an improving economy, Wilkinson said he sees some positive signs of new job creation.
There are a number of promising leads that the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corp. is following up on, he said. He's also seeing some good things come out of the partnership between GYEDC and Kevin Wilkins, the city's recently hired economic development project manager.
“We're exploring creative ways to attract new business,” Wilkinson said.
One step the city is taking is going through the process to reduce its development impact fees by about 50 percent for both residential and commercial projects. The new fees are expected to go into effect this summer.
“I think that will really give us an advantage for developers,” he said.
The big concern, he said, is what the cash-strapped state might do.
“Hopefully, the state will leave us alone and not sweep any more shared funds,” he said.
A major issue, he said, is the condition of the city's streets as a result of past Legislatures sweeping the HURF (Highway User Revenue Fund) that is supposed to go to cities and counties to help fund roadway maintenance and construction projects.
“Our No. 1 issue is the roads,” Wilkinson said. The city has undertaken such temporary fixes as slurry sealing to extend the life of streets, but that's a short-lived solution.
Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853. Find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/YSJoyceLobeck or on Twitter at @YSJoyceLobeck.
