Eunice sales tax revenues continued to decline in February after a dramatic rise in January, according to the St. Landry Parish School Board Sales Tax Division.
Eunice’s February tax revenue was $382,807, down from $550,155 collected in January — a 30.4 percent decrease.
Sales tax revenue for the first two months of the year was down 3.4 percent compared to the same period in 2016.
Year-to-date revenue was $932,961, down from $966,202 in 2016.
In a February-to-February comparison, revenue was off 1.8 percent in Eunice. The February sales tax collection was $382,807 this year, down from $389,707 in February 2016.
Total revenue in St. Landry Parish for January and February was $11,942,348, up from $11,507,715 or 3.8 percent from the same period in 2016.
The parish sales tax total includes parish, school, solid waste, law enforcement and municipal taxes.
The parish revenue also registered a steep decline from January to February. February’s total was $4,964,824, down 29 percent from January’s $6,977,534.
Parish sales tax revenue grew 7.5 percent in comparing February’s $4,964,824 to February 2016’s $4,619,939.
The parish total for January was likely a historic high given that January 2014 was the first month where revenue from a 2 percent sales in unincorporated areas appeared.
The sales tax rate in Eunice is 10.75 percent. Of that 5 percent is state, 3.55 percent is parish and 2.2 percent is city.
Unincorporated areas pay a 10.5 percent sales tax revenue, which includes 5 percent state and 5.5 percent parish rates.
On April 1, the state sales tax rate rose by 1 percent.