The Erie County Department of Budget and Management today announced that final sales tax receipts for 2018 were 4.25% greater than 2017, the largest one-year increase since 2011, despite slowing growth in the fourth quarter of the year. Erie County realized additional sales tax revenue of $12.565 million over budget in 2018, while the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (“NFTA”) share of sales tax was $559,000 over budget, leaving Erie County with net revenue of $12.006 million.

“My administration has consistently budgeted for modest growth in sales tax revenue in order to be prudent and realistic, and to avoid being caught short by overly optimistic budget hopes that do not   materialize.  We have been fortunate that in 2018 sales tax receipts surpassed our modest forecasts, and as a result we saw strong growth,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “However, sales tax trailed off in the final quarter of 2018, with the lowest growth seen in December, traditionally the month with the highest growth annually. Due to the importance of sales tax revenues to our overall budget we will continue to watch that closely.”

Monthly sales tax growth over 2017 in October 2018 was 3.05%, while in November it was 3.48% before shrinking to 2.22% in December 2018. The 2019 Budget was developed with an anticipated growth of 1.75% over 2018 projections. Thanks to final 2018 revenues exceeding these expectations, an overall 2019 sales tax growth of 1.54% is now needed in order to meet budget.

 For more information:

On the Erie County Department of Budget and Management, visit http://www2.erie.gov/budget/     

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