Harlan Kirgan
St. Landry Parish sales tax collections were up 8.2 percent compared to the first two months of 2018.
The parish total for January and February was $12,210,130, up $929,742 from 2018’s first two-month total, according to statistics released by the St. Landry Parish School Board Sales Tax Division.
The parish sales and use tax total includes collections for the parish government, School Board, solid waste, law enforcement, special tax districts and municipalities. The total does not include state collections.
In Eunice, the January and February total was $950,655, a 0.6 percent decrease from the 2018 two-month total of $$956,270.
The two-month total in Opelousas was $1,731,658, up 5.2 percent from the $1,645,760 collected in January-February 2018.
In St. Landry Parish Road District 1, which collects a 2 percent sales tax in unincorporated areas of the parish to fund the Smooth Ride Home program, the January-February total was $1,155,400, up 12.8 percent from the $1,024,603 collected in the first two months of 2018.
— Eunice collections totaled $406,792 in February, up 6 percent from February 2018’s collections, but down 25 percent from January.
— Opelousas February collections totaled $670,333, essentially flat from the $669,858 collected in February 2018, and a 37 percent decrease from January.
— Road District 1’s Febuary collections totaled $535,026, up 17 percent from the $456,942 collected in February 2018, but down 13.8 percent from January.
— The parish total in February was $5,191,009, up 9.9 percent from the $4,724,384 collected in February 2018, but down 26 percent from January.
The local sales tax rates in Eunice are 2.2 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.