Revenue Up 15.45% Over 2020 Year-To-Date, JPs Told
County General revenue is up 15.45% year-to-date over 2020, County Treasurer Scott Sanson told the Budget & Finance Committee at its November 9 meeting.
Sanson’s monthly financial report took up more than half the 8-minute meeting, as JPs also quickly passed the monthly routine appropriations Ordinance.
With no preset agenda and stumbling at the start, Chairman JP John Pickett (D, Dist. 11) began, “We have a proposal…” and then asked County Treasurer Scott Sanson to “give us a financial report.”
October Financial Report
Sanson began with the “big 5” revenue accounts for October:
County General: $4,328,623
County Road: $5,477,974
County Road Sales Tax: $3,402,659
Animal Control: $1,407,335
Criminal Justice Sales Tax: $1,840,845
He said that “County General revenue vs. previous years” has been “trending higher than 2020 and 2019 all year,” and tax collection was “even better than what I thought.”
County General Revenue Up 15.45% Year-To-Date Over 2020
“We’re doing very well with County General revenue this year, very well,” he added.
Sanson reported sales tax revenue of $1,021,160, which is “13.83% higher than 2020, and we’re currently 15.45% higher than 2020 year-to-date,” he said.
Inflation Will “Push Those Numbers”
Revenue is at “96% of projected,” Sanson said, adding
We’re not changing our projections at the end of the year just due to the fact that people don’t need the budget. If they did, we would, but we’re gonna, we are going to get very close to $12,000,000, very close. I’ve got us projected at $11,800,000…
We’ve been talking a little bit about these increases being inflationary numbers. Remember, what we got in October was actually collected two months prior, so we’ve really seen the inflation in the fall. Inflation is really going to push those numbers….
Looking good going into budget season pretty much across the board. We’ve been looking into the numbers; we’re kind of just double-checking some numbers not exactly where I expected, but on the good side. We should have some budget numbers here in a couple of weeks.
From the audience, Mike Turner of Vilonia asked if “these higher numbers” are “retail sales only or is it housing market?” and Sanson said
I have not dug into it that far… these numbers are not just Faulkner County. These numbers are across the state… People are running anywhere from 12 to 20% up year-to-date vs. last year all the way across the state…. I feel good about the numbers we have and I feel good about the growth we have…
We know some of this is not growth but inflationary… we’re talking about a 6% inflationary rate somewhere in there; we know expenses are going to follow this (trend) somewhat, but I think we’ve got more growth than inflation.
Ordinance 21-38, Monthly Appropriations
JP Matt Brown (R, Dist. 8) moved to consider and then to approve the Ordinance, and JP Tyler Pearson (D, Dist. 7) seconded both times. With no discussion, the Committee voted to advance Ordinance 21-38 to the full Court.
Ordinance 21-40, Annual School District Millage Rates
County Clerk Margaret Darter explained that this Ordinance, even though it was on the agenda, was not ready for consideration because “all the cities have not reported back to me yet,” and said she’d “just present that at the full Court next week.”
Videos edited from original video on Faulkner County’s YouTube channel.)
Visit Faulkner County Reports on YouTube for more videos and video excerpts from this and other County meetings.
