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WHITE PLAINS 3% BELOW LAST YEAR’S SALES TAX PACE AFTER 6 MONTHS.

WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. By John F. Bailey, Based on Figures from New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. January 19, 2019:

Westchester  County set a sales tax receipts record in 2018.

In figures for December released today, the Department of Taxation and Finance reports the final figure for Westchester sales tax receipts for the fiscal year just ended is $550,562,481, a 4.8% increase over the 2017 sales tax handle of $525,513,104.

This is a $25 Million dollar gain from last year’s sales tax. How the sales tax windfall is being used in the 2019 budget is not clear at this time.

On the local city scene, the White Plains sales tax after the first six months of the WP fiscal year 2018-19  is running 3% behind last year’s pace. At the halfway mark the city has earned $24,787,997 the first six months this fiscal year, compared to $25,497,198 the first half of 2017-18, a 2.8 % decline.

If White Plains equals the pace of the first six months of 2018, January through June in 2019, the city would receive $25,497,198 when added to the $24,787,997 already in the till, at the halfway mark, the city would equal last year’s handle by June, realizing $50.3 MILLION.

However, the city is down 3%, and the city handle declined in December, something that is unusual.

If you a apply a 3% decline trend over the next six months the city take would  be $48,630,089, a 3.3% decline.

A figure that is sobering about what it says about the White Plains economy  is Westchester County was up 9.2% in sales tax dollars Dec 2018 vs. Dec. 2017 while White Plains was down about 1% — not even keeping pace with inflation.

The county 9.2% gain matched their biggest month to month gain of the year. However the overall tax receipts prediction the county made in early November was $578 Million, and they fell $28 Million.