Barrow sales taxes sink

Sales taxes are the second largest revenue source for county government operations behind property taxes. The last time a monthly collection was lower was in February 2003.

April’s SPLOST revenue collection, which is used to pay down the county’s long-term debt and to build new capital projects, also is the lowest it has been in six years. The county received $478,192 for the month.

County administrators had budgeted general sales tax revenues in the current fiscal year to increase by about $900,000 to $6.5 million. However, in the first seven months of this fiscal year, which began last October, the county government has collected only $2.8 million, far behind the anticipated income.