The prolonged recovery from the August 2016 flood is once again being blamed for a decline in monthly sales tax collections in East Baton Rouge Parish.
The roughly $14.2 million collected in February marked a 7.7% decline—or about $1.2 million—from collections of $15.4 million during the month last year, according to the latest report from the city-parish Finance Department. The decrease follows a 9.7% decline posted in January.
“Year-to-date collections reflect an 8.75 percent decrease,” the Finance Department says. “A significant drop in collections was anticipated since we are now comparing against 2016 flood recovery months.”
The monthly collections report is broken down to show collections inside and outside the Baton Rouge city limits, as well as sales on general merchandise and vehicles, which is typically more volatile month to month. Vehicles
Collections were down both inside the city limits (-5.8%) and outside (-10.1%) of them in February, while vehicle sales collections down by 15.4% across the city-parish.
