The City of Midland has experienced an increase in sales tax collections for January, as reported by the Texas Comptroller. The city collected $5.409 million during the month, marking a 4.7% rise compared to January 2024.
While fiscal year 2024-25 is nearly even with the previous year through its first four months, the year-to-date total stands at $22,147,254, exceeding budget expectations by $1,069,863.
Sales tax revenue is based on sales from two months prior; thus, January's collection reflects November sales. Midland receives one cent of the 8.25% sales tax within the city limits.
Analysis suggests that the increase in January 2025 sales tax is mainly due to retail activities associated with "Black Friday" and holiday shopping beginning as early as October for many major retailers. Other Texas cities such as Odessa, El Paso, and Dallas also reported similar increases in January 2025 compared to January 2024.
This trend may indicate that February 2025 sales tax figures could stabilize if most holiday retail activity occurred earlier than usual.
Although detailed information for January 2025 is not yet available, data from December 2024 shows an increase in contributions from Retail/Food/Professional & Consulting Services sectors compared to December 2023. Meanwhile, Manufacturing (primarily oil-related) saw a decrease in contributions. Most other industries remained stable.
In terms of sector contributions: Retail Trade accounted for 37.7%, Manufacturing for 21.3%, Wholesale & Related and Hotels & Food Services each contributed 8.8%, Professional & Other Services made up 8.3%, Telecom & Information stood at 4.3%, Construction at 4.0%, Finance & Rentals at 3.1%, Utilities at 3.0%, and Waste Management contributed 0.7%.
The City of Midland's report shows that while there was a decrease of 0.36% from FY 2023-24 to FY 2024-25 ($22,228,314), the current fiscal year's actuals are over budget by $1,069,863.
Additionally, Midland Development Corporation (MDC) reported collections of $1,352,302 for January and a total of $5,536,813 for FY 2024-25.