This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Shrewsbury Sees Sales Tax Growth in First Quarter of the Year

A 12.9 percent increase was tempered by an drop in utility taxes to keep the city's overall revenue stable and similar to the first quarter of 2011.

Shrewsbury’s finance director reported growth in the city’s sales tax receipts for the first quarter of 2012 but tempered her optimism with a caution about the month-to-month volatility of such numbers. 

Danielle Oettle spoke last Tuesday during a board of aldermen meeting. Her report came as part of a quarterly budget review that was recently instituted by the city to give its elected representatives an ongoing sense of the city's financial health.

Sales tax revenue grew by 13.9 percent compared to the same period last year, Oettle said, marking the first time since 2007 that the city saw such an increase in the first quarter, excepting a slight uptick in 2009.

Find out what's happening in Affton-Shrewsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I think we are looking good for the first quarter,” Oettle said, although she warned the board that preliminary sales tax numbers for May were trending downward.

This boost was balanced by a drop in money from utility tax and court fines to keep the overall revenue generated nearly identical to last year, according to Oettle’s report. She attributed the decline in utility tax to the mild weather experienced by Missouri last year.

Find out what's happening in Affton-Shrewsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The city also continues to be the beneficiary of projects by the St. Louis Archdioicese, who recently announced for two affordable housing apartment complexes in Shrewsbury operated by Cardinal Ritter Senior Services. Oettle said this was largely responsible for nearly $57,000 in revenue collected from licenses and permits so far this year, up substantially from approximately $23,000 in the first quarter of 2011.

Expenditures for the city are also increased compared to the previous year, although it is mostly due to a shift in the amount paid out of the general fund toward the city’s bonds.

This accounts for approximately $100,000 of the $161,707 increase in expenses during the first quarter from 2011 to 2012. The remainder stems from an overall rise in the cost of benefit payments for health insurance and pensions. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Affton-Shrewsbury