Reading receipts: Roughly $17 million in sales taxes, including those on vehicle sales, were collected in the city-parish in March, a 5% decline from the same month last year, continuing a trend of decreased spending so far this year, according to the latest report from the city-parish Finance Department. The report breaks down collections inside and outside the Baton Rouge city limits, and both posted a decline. Inside the city limits, the roughly $9.6 million collected represented a 4.5% decline, while the $7.4 million collected outside the city limits marked a 5.6% drop. The report also breaks out collections on vehicle sales, which are typically much more volatile than general sales, and those were also down by about 20% inside and outside the city limits. Year to date, total sales and vehicle tax collections in the city-parish stood at $46.1 million through March, a 7.4% decline compared to the first three months of last year. See the full report.
‘Water wise’: Baton Rouge was named one of five national winners in the 7th Annual Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. In announcing the award, the Wyland Foundation notes Baton Rouge residents pledged to reduce water use by 32.7 million gallons over the next year as part of Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s 2018 Water Challenge. The month-long public awareness campaign to promote drought resiliency and water quality ended on April 30, with mayors from 35 states vying to see whose city could be the nation’s most “water wise.” Other cities that declared “water wise” were Gallup, New Mexico; Westminster, California; Tucson, Arizona; and Dallas.
Return to sender: Amazon is banning shoppers who make too many returns, sometimes without even telling them why they’re suddenly unable to purchase from the retail giant, The Wall Street Journal reports. Amazon is known for having friendly customer service and making it easy for shoppers to return items they don’t want, but the company is putting its foot down and shutting down the accounts of those who “abuse” their return policies. The problem lies in the lack of clarity about how many returned items is too many because even when Amazon emails a customer to say why their account has been frozen, they don’t cite a specific number of returns that puts them over the limit. Read the full story. (Subscription may be required)
