From Staff Reports
EL RENO — Sales and use tax revenues reported in July for Canadian County have dropped for the third straight month during the pandemic, the Oklahoma Tax Commission reports.
Canadian County sales tax for July 2020 is $557,946. That is a 17.7% decrease, or $120,676 less compared to last year.
In 2019, the sales tax amount was $678,622 for the same period.
Canadian County‘s July deposit from the tax commission is for the period of May and part of June.
Marc Hader, Canadian County Commission chairman, said county government operations have not been drastically changed with the sales tax downturn and the focus continues to be the operation of the Gary E. Miller Canadian County Children’s Justice Center.
“Like for municipalities, it is a concern of a sort, but one thing that is different for us is our sales tax is dedicated solely for the operation of our juvenile justice center. We’ve been blessed with high revenues in the past and as long as we can bring in about $500,000 or so that covers the bills and the budget. And we have reserves, several million dollars, that we can transfer to cover that shortfall,” Hader said.
Hader said the county outlook is positive, despite the temporary setbacks such as a decline in fuel tax revenues that have been down almost half from normal while people are not traveling or going to work, he said.
“We’re still the fastest growing county in the state and probably are going to continue to be for a while so in that regards those revenues are pretty steady,” Hader said.
Some county road project plans have been scaled back due to the pandemic, he said.
Canadian County also saw sales tax drop in June when the deposit was $519,644 compared to 2019 when the deposit was $778,056.
The drop in sales tax revenue was noticed in May after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses and schools in March and April.
The May, 2020 sales tax receipt was $558,943 compared to 2019 when it was $738,376, the tax commission reports.
Use tax has also been on the decline during the pandemic in the county.
Canadian County use tax deposit for July, 2020 is $98,893 compared to 2019 when it was $197,482, a 49.9% decrease.
The county use tax deposit for June, 2020 was $109,176 compared to $134,069 in 2019.
Use tax was also down in May, $123,785 compared to 2019 when it was $220,052.
