State tax revenues ahead in county

By Diane Saunders
Staff Writer
Published on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:22 PM MST

Local government officials may not know for a month or two how the economic downturn will impact state tax revenues.

Graham County and the incorporated communities of Safford, Thatcher and Pima receive state sales tax and state revenue-sharing money.

Clel Flake, Graham County financial officer, said the county receives 0.5 percent from all sales in the county.

The revenue-sharing money includes state sales tax and “severance tax” — a tax paid on mined copper.

In October — the most recent disbursement to Graham — the county received $210,258.90 in state sales tax money, compared to $188,983.89 in October 2007. The county also received $315,895.17 in revenue-sharing money in October — $25,436.55 more than the October 2007 amount of $290,458.62.

“We’re still running a little bit higher than we were a year ago,” Flake said.

He warned, however, that the October revenue payments came from money collected in September and do not reflect the economy in November.

“Part of that (state revenue), especially in the revenue-sharing, is the copper,” Flake said. “We haven’t seen the lag yet.”

He added that state sales tax money was collected in the local stores two months ago — weeks before the economic decline intensified.

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Comments

3 comment(s)

Mesa resident wrote on Dec 9, 2008 11:47 PM:

" News is that Terry Cooper is moving to the valley. Who will be the new County Manager? "

to hmmmmm wrote on Dec 4, 2008 9:00 PM:

" no - there will be some expensive training issues to face and with the economy down - do you thing cooper is going to let anyone have a raise? Get real--------- "

hmmmm wrote on Nov 28, 2008 6:12 PM:

" Does more money mean the employees might finally get a raise? "

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