By Rupert Howell

Most recent sales tax funds coming to the City of Batesville from the State Tax Commission for July sales indicate an eight percent decrease in sales over the previous July and a four percent decrease from the previous month’s collections.

The sales tax figures act as a barometer of the local economy reflecting retail sales.

The City of Batesville received $291,157.74 as its share of the seven percent sales tax collected during the month of July. Municipalities receive approximately 18 percent of the sales tax paid within their borders. A total of those figures indicate the state’s sales were down eight percent for the same sales period.

Batesville’s figures are down eight percent for the year-to-date representing two months of the state’s fiscal year. The total state figures indicate a seven percent year-to-date decrease with $62,017,474 returned to municipalities for the past two months.

The city of Batesville also received $73,626 from the three percent food, beverage and lodging tax tacked on in local businesses as the Batesville Tourism and Economic Development Tax. That amount is down seven percent from the previous July

Other Panola County municipalities showed sales tax payments payments of and percentage of (+)increase and  (-)decrease respectively: Como, $14,914, -7; Courtland, $1,345, -31; Crenshaw, $3,530, -7; Crowder, $1,642, +25; Pope, $2,341, -9 and Sardis, $26,986, -15.
Nearby municipalities showed sales tax income and percentage of increase or decrease as follows: Charleston, $26,881, -7; Clarksdale, $208,962, -11; Grenada, $304,888, -11; Lambert, $2,925, -12; Marks, $20,205, -4; Oakland, $5,221, 0; Oxford, $438,939, -7; Senatobia, $145,038, -11; Sledge, $1,398, -6 and Water Valley, $42,988, 0.