(Photo courtesy of the city of Tyler)

Sales tax receipts are up in the first eight months of the fiscal year, and the city of Tyler projects it will be able to spend more money on infrastructure projects.

The city brought in $18.9 million from its 1 percent sales tax so far in this fiscal year, from October through May, compared with $17.9 million during the same time period of the past fiscal year. 

The city brought in another $9.4 million over the same time period from its 0.5 percent sales tax, compared with $9 million in the previous year.

Revenue from both taxes saw a 5.3 percent increase each.

The city of Tyler’s fiscal year is from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 and is currently in fiscal year 2018. The city government will spend the summer putting together a budget for fiscal year 2019.

The city puts revenue from the 1 percent sales tax into its general fund, the main pot of money it uses for spending. The city imposes an additional 0.5 percent sales tax, also called the half-cent sales tax, to fund infrastructure projects.

“The city projects that it will collect more sales tax revenues than it has in previous years,” Julie Goodgame, a spokeswoman for the city, said in an email. “The additional dollars for the half-cent sales tax fund will go toward capital projects.”

Revenue from the 1 percent sales tax has historically made up about 40 percent of money that goes into the city’s general fund, and property taxes have historically made up less than one-third of the general fund.

During the fiscal year 2017 budget process, when sales tax revenues fell below projections, the city pulled money out of reserves to balance the budget, and asked department heads to make cuts.

The city sales taxes are charged in addition to the statewide sales tax of 6.25 percent and the Smith County sales tax of 0.5 percent, so people shopping in the city pay a total of 8.25 percent in sales taxes.

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