By Rupert Howell

Sales tax collections for December 2009 equalled that of December of 2008 in the City of Batesville while collections decreased three percent statewide according to recent figures from the Mississippi State Tax Commission.

The City of Batesville will receive $336,211 as its 18 percent share of the seven cents sales tax compared to the $336,518 received last year. Using the state’s fiscal year which began July, Batesville is three percent behind collections made during the same period last year while statewide collections are down six percent. Statewide collections for December were down four percent from last year.

The recent report on the Tourism in Development Tax, a local three percent sales tax on restaurants and hotels, for the month of January showed a drastic increase of 36 percent. That drastic increase mirrors a drastic decrease the prior month. Batesville received $85,387 from that tax for Janaury 2010. Year-to-date collections are one percent above that collected during the same period last fiscal year totaling $547,061 received since July.

Panola municipalities were disbursed the following as their share of sales tax collections for December 2009 with the percentage of increase or decrease following: Como, $12,894, -19; Courtland, $1,141, +23; Crenshaw, $3,583, +8; Crowder, $1,589, +12; Pope, $1,894 and Sardis, $26,876, +1.

Nearby municipalities received the following as their share of sales tax collected and percentage of increase or decrease as follows: Charleston, $28,710, -2; Clarksdale, $240,523, -5; Grenada, $347,087, -3; Lambert, $2,676, -11; Marks, $$20,424, -7; Oakland, $5,321, +42; Oxford, $548,684; Senatobia, $165,646, no change and Water Valley, $41,013, -1.

The State Tax Commission disbursed $35,702,541 to municipalities as their share of December sales tax collections.