15 January 2009

2008 Sales Tax Revenue

Albany County ended 2008 with sales tax revenues of $237,499,690. That was 2.89 percent above 2007 and 2.3 percent above the amount budgeted for 2008 of $232,265,000. The County retains 60 percent of sales tax revenue and distributes the remaining 40 percent to cities and towns. Thus, the net amount available for County purposes was $142,499,814, which was $3,140,814 above the amount budgeted.

However, while the sales tax revenues for the year were above budget, the trend is consistent with the economic distress the rest of New York and the entire country are suffering from. Sales tax revenues for the fourth quarter of 2008 were down 7.48 percent from 2007 and down 8.44 percent from the prior quarter. Moreover, in three of the most recent four calendar quarters, sales tax revenues declined from the prior quarter. The only exception was in the third quarter.…

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