Boom Pumps Up Sales Tax

Santa Claus is making a return trip of sorts this month.

Sales tax revenue checks to Odessa, the Ector County Hospital District and nine other Permian Basin cities will set records thanks to strong December sales.

“I haven’t seen this kind of growth in 30 years, and I’m from Pecos,” Pecos City Manager Joseph Torres said Wednesday.

Pecos is getting a check for $178,662.74, up 62.2 percent from the $110,141.39 check of a year ago.

“The oil and gas is driving that — the exploration, the oil field service companies, the hospitality industry…,” Torres said.

Torres said the city is capitalizing on the energy sector as well as the city’s location on Interstate 20. He pointed to highways 285 and 17 that run north-south and the east-west traffic from the railroad and Interstate 20 as big reasons for Pecos’ growth.

“We’re quietly planning our growth with the economic development corporation,” Torres said, adding that the city council is “very aggressive.”

“We’re doing a lot, but we’re doing it with what we consider planned growth,” Torres said. Some of the growth includes new apartments being built and a new hospital wing being added.

“It’s just the fact that we happen to be in a location with plenty of opportunities,” he said. “It’s not about us, it’s about location.”

In Odessa, the February check of $2,593,630.85 will be split between the city and the Odessa Development Corp. with the city getting a little more than $2,077,000 and the ODC getting around $518,700. February checks are based on December retail sales.

Odessa’s sales tax revue check is up 10.4 percent from last February’s $2,349,977.30 check.

The check marks the 27th straight month that the sales tax check has beaten the previous year’s total. It’s also the 41st time in 43 months to do that same thing.

The numbers obviously mean good things for retailers.

“I’m very happy with sales right now,” Jane Knox, co-owner of Mark Knox Flowers in Odessa and Flowerland in Midland, said. Knox said sales figures continue a trend her stores have seen for several months.

“Both stores have done very well,” she said.

The sales helped the Ector County Hospital District get a record $2,192,570.83 check, up 13.8 percent from the $1,926,131.86 of February 2007 — the previous high. This is the hospital district’s first $2 million check.

Record territory

In addition to Odessa and the Ector County Hospital District, the following Permian Basin cities will see record sales tax revenue checks in February:

>> Fort Stockton.
>> Lamesa.
>> Marfa.
>> Midland.
>> Pecos.
>> Presidio.
>> Seminole.
>> Wickett.
>> Wink.

SALES TAX RESULTS AT A GLANCE

Here’s a glance at what kind of sales tax revenue checks Permian Basin area towns are expecting. (Numbers are compared to the same month a year ago.)

>> Alpine $110,835.16, down 10 percent.
>> Andrews $321,172.08, up 9.8 percent.
>> Big Lake $81,432.30, up 27.1 percent.
>> Big Spring $553,457.91, up 1.6 percent.
>> Crane $65,997.37, up 16.1 percent.
>> Fort Stockton $311,418.27, up 58.8 percent.
>> Goldsmith $10,922.90, up 251.7 percent.
>> Grandfalls $2,578.54, up 4.2 percent.
>> Kermit $48,673.74, up 25.1 percent.
>> Lamesa $139,652.82, up 10.4 percent.
>> Marfa $26,092.96, up 0.6 percent.
>> McCamey $25,598.65, down 22.2 percent.
>> Midland $3,710,804.95, up 1.8 percent.
>> Monahans $145,799.45, down 0.3 percent.
>> Odessa $2,593,630.85, up 10.4 percent.
>> Pecos $178,662.74, up 62.2 percent.
>> Presidio $57,641.51, up 5.3 percent.
>> Pyote $1,042.19, up 88.5 percent.
>> Rankin $7,385.89, up 12.5 percent.
>> Seminole $110,490.17, up 14.4 percent.
>> Stanton $34,132.42, up 32.8 percent.
>> Toyah $660.52, down 12.6 percent.
>> Wickett $19,417.07, up 110.6 percent.
>> Wink $12,937.37, up 84.6 percent.