By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
After a nice uptick in October, Yukon’s sales tax collections were basically flat this month.
The City of Yukon on Nov. 8 received a $2,489,773.06 distribution of sales tax collections from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, which primarily represents local tax receipts from September business.
That amount is 1.1% more than the $2,356,528.04 distribution in November 2022. So, it didn’t even keep up with the rate of inflation.
In October, Yukon’s monthly sales tax distribution was about 6.8% above the same month in 2022. Yukon has rebounded after seeing a slight drop in sales tax receipts for September.
Through the first five months of FY23-24, Yukon’s sales tax collections have increased 3.4% over the first five months of FY22-23 – from $11,834,629 to $11,834,629.
Sales tax is the primary revenue source for Oklahoma’s municipalities, funding local government operations.
That was a point Yukon City Manager Tammy Kretchmar emphasized during the Nov. 7th Yukon Legislative Breakfast sponsored by the Yukon Chamber of Commerce.
Other than water sales, sales tax is the main revenue source for cities like Yukon.
Oklahoma is “one of the few states in the nation” where sales tax is the only tax benefitting municipalities, Kretchmar pointed out at the recent breakfast hosted by Archery Traditions.
“If there’s anything that you all can do for us – and I’m talking all cities -we would appreciate it,” Yukon’s city manager told state legislators in attendance.
“I know a lot of towns in other states get a portion of the property taxes.”
Kretchmar shared that the City of Yukon’s sales tax collections were up nearly 4% “year-to-date.” But that was one day before the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s November disbursement, which brought the overall figure down another 1/2%.
“I think the increase on that is basically inflation,” Kretchmar told the Yukon Legislative Breakfast audience.
Yukon’s top city administrator attributed the jump in Yukon’s sales tax income to the higher cost of groceries and “everything else.”
The City of Oklahoma City is the largest municipality in Canadian County – both in terms of population and sales tax collections.
For November, the City of Oklahoma City received $2,835,626.20 in sales tax revenues within Canadian County – a 5.5% increase over the $2,688,011.06 received in November ’22.
That follows a 9.3% increase for October, 1.6% increase for September and 20.6% increase for August in the year-over-year comparison.
The City of Yukon has a 4% local tax rate.
The City of Oklahoma City has a 4.125% local tax rate.
FIVE UP, FOUR DOWN
Across Oklahoma, the Nov. 8th disbursement of $199,342,262 in sales tax collections returned to the cities and towns reflected an increase of $6,324,768 (3.3%) from the $193,017,494 distributed to them in November 2022.
Yukon and Oklahoma City are among nine municipalities inside Canadian County that receive sales tax distributions monthly from the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
Five municipalities saw increases this November compared to November ‘22:
- El Reno – 35.5%
- Mustang – 2.2%
- Oklahoma City – 5.5%
- Union City – 63.2%
- Yukon – 1.1%
The other four municipalities had decreases in the year-over-year comparison:
- Calumet – 11.3%
- Geary – 65.2%
- Okarche – 18.8%
- Piedmont – 2.8%
Meanwhile, the November use tax disbursement to cities and towns across Oklahoma totaled $34,557,964.
The City of Yukon saw an 18% increase in use tax revenues – from $262,100.49 in November ’22 to $309,504.71 this month.
A use tax is a tax on goods or services that generally would be subject to sales tax, but the sales tax was not collected or was under-collected. Use taxes often apply to online or out-of-state purchases.
COUNTY RETURNS
In county returns for November, Oklahoma’s 77 counties shared in $33,674,125 in sales tax disbursements and $6,223,765 in use tax disbursements.
Canadian County experienced an 10.8% increase in sales tax collections between November 2022 ($796,125.91) and this November ($881,856.53).
That follows an 8.4% year-over-year jump in October and 6.1% hike in September.
Year-to-date in FY23-24, Canadian County’s cumulative sales revenues are up 7% over the same period in FY22-23 – from $4,192,772 to $4,486,434.
Canadian County’s .035% countywide sales tax is earmarked to fund operations at the Gary E. Miller Children’s Justice Center.
Canadian County’s use tax distribution was $192,492.60 for November, a 10% decrease from $211,767.42 in November ’22.
