by BOB BARTON

Led by Buda’s huge leap in sales tax revenues, Hays County’s 10 municipalities received almost $17 million in revenues last week for their portion of the state’s take from consumer purchases in June.

The $365,328  that went into Buda’s coffers fell less than a thousand dollars below its record setting collection of $366,220 in January 2007, a few months after the grand opening of the big Cabella’s outlet at the eastern edge of town.

The increase in collections for the month  finally pushed Buda ahead of last year’s total sales tax revenues and probably nails down assurances that the town will put more than $3 million into its treasury for the fifth consecutive year.

Although their $322,534 sales tax receipts for the month didn’t quite match Buda’s, neighboring Kyle had a good month, too. So far that means a 9.9 percent improvement over a year ago and almost certainly insures the fast growing city of passing the $3 million mark for the first time since Kyle started collecting sales tax in 1987.

The new burst in Buda will probably delay for a while earlier predictions that Kyle would move ahead in total yearly receipts. Both cities are faring better than the state as a whole, since Texas’ 1,100 plus cities are still running collectively a little more than two percent below their sales tax income in 2009.

Down the road in the county seat, San Marcos registered a 4.1 percent increase in sales taxes, which pushed its yearly totals to more than $12 million. Pretty substantial, but  the two northern twin cities have nearly $4 million, so the tortoise is gaining a bit year by year on the hare.

In the remainder of the county, Dripping Springs registered a healthy 12.4 percent upturn and put $88,095 into its bank account. Wimberley’s news wasn’t as good, taking in $69,025 compared to $72,637 last August.

Other Hays County cities sales tax receipts for August include: Uhland, $4,990; Woodcreek, $3,841; Niederwald, $1,799; Hays, $1,318; and Mountain City, $451.

At the county level, where the sales tax is only one-third of that of cities’, Hays County registered a slight monthly decrease. It received $76,900 for August. That’s about $40,000 below last August’s  total.

Fourteen of the state’s largest 20 cities registered sales tax increases ( Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Arlington, El Paso, Round Rock, Plano, Amarillo, McAllen, Lubbock, Frisco, Sugar Land, Grand Prairie, Midland and Mesquite), indicating that economic conditions statewide are on an upswing.