COUNTY SALES TAXES UP; JANUARY PAYMENT 13 PERCENT ABOVE YEAR AGO

JACKSON -- If January sales tax revenue is any indication, this year could be a stellar one for Cape Girardeau County finances.

The county's one-half-cent sales tax took in $398,655, an increase of 13 percent over January 1997.

"Thirteen percent is a huge increase," said County Auditor H. Weldon Macke. "If it keeps up like this we could be looking at a real good year."

January's sales tax revenue reflects purchases made in November, Macke said. February's payment will reflect Christmas shopping, and that could mean another big check, he said.

Sales tax collections for 1997 were up 4.5 percent over 1996 collections, which also came as good news to the county, Macke said. The county collected $4.444 million in sales taxes for 1997.

Since the county funds the general revenue portion of its budget exclusively with sales tax money, the continued increase is good news to county officials.

In 1996, the county saw a sales tax increase of just 1.98 percent over 1995. In 1996, the county collected $4,252,817 from sales taxes.

The 1996 sales tax collections were significant when compared to 1995 figures, because in 1995, the county experienced an increase of 9.2 percent, said Macke.

The county collected $4.1 million in sales taxes in 1995, and $3.8 million in 1994.

Sales tax figures for Cape Girardeau County have been up between 4 and 10 percent each year since 1990. The only exception was 1991, when a recession resulted in less than a 1 percent increase in sales taxes over the previous year.

Macke said sales tax figures seem to be cyclical. He hopes that the January figures indicate Cape Girardeau County is on an upward swing for 1998.