Sales taxes down in Tulsa

Hours before the president's State of the Union Address, KRMG has learned some dismal news on the Tulsa economy.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett says the City of Tulsa’s February sales tax revenue is down about three percent, or $627,086, from the same period last year.

The February numbers released Tuesday are from mid-December to mid-January, as reported by the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

The total was $20,605,923.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett says, “A decline in monthly sales tax revenue isn’t good news, but it reinforces the need for the City to operate conservatively and continue to try and reduce costs and deliver services more efficiently."

The sales tax disbursement is about six percent below budget estimates.

Bartlett says, “The Management Review Office that our administration created continues to work with several City departments to find ways to reduce costs and improve customer service.”

Use tax revenues for the mid-December to mid-January period totaled $2,097,623, a decline of 11.9 percent from the same period last year.

For the fiscal year to date, use tax collections total $14,622,576, or about six percent more than the previous year and about 3.6 percent above budget estimates.