St. Landry Parish sales tax collections settled back to a normal range in February following a 16% increase in January.
But year-to-date sales tax collections in St. Landry Parish are down 22.7% compared to the first two months of 2019, according to statistics released Tuesday by the St. Landry Parish School Board Sales Tax Division.
The parish total was $13,371,852 for January and February collections, which is down $3,926,687 from the same period in 2019.
The parish sales and use tax total includes collections for the parish government, School Board, solid waste, law enforcement, special tax districts and municipalities.
There are 18 parish entities collecting sales taxes in St. Landry Parish.
Parish sales tax collections in February totaled $5,224,951, up 0.7% from the February 2019 total of $5,191,009.
The parish total was down nearly 36% in February from January’s total of $8,146,901.
Eunice year-to-date sales collections were $1,063,387, down $308,460 or 22.5% from the same period in 2019.
Compared to February 2019, the February collections of $434,147 were up 6.7% or $27,355 over February 2019.
Eunice collections in February, like other entities in the parish, were down from January. The January total in Eunice was $629,240 — a $195,093 difference from February’s $434,147.
In Opelousas, year-to-date sales tax collections were $1,781,689, down 27.5% from the $2,456,310 collected in the first two months of 2019.
February sales tax collections in Opelousas were $688,568, up $18,235 or 2.7% from February 2019.
Opelousas sales tax collections also tumbled down from January when the total was $1,093,121 for a 37% decrease.
In Road District 1, which collects a 2 percent sales tax in unincorporated areas of the parish to fund the Smooth Ride Home program, collections totaled $1,382,748 year-to-date, which is $213,468 lower than collections in January and February 2019.
Collections in February for the road district were $525,323,down $9,703 or 1.8% from February 2019.
The road district’s January collections were $857,424, up $332,101 from February’s total.
The local sales tax rates in Eunice are 2.45 percent city and 3.55 percent parish.
Local sales tax rates in unincorporated St. Landry Parish are 5.55 percent parish tax rates that includes the 2 percent Smooth Ride Home Program tax.
The sales tax numbers include a use tax, which is paid on items used, stored or consumed. The sales tax is collected on a transaction.
The numbers reported for February collections primarily reflect sales in January.
