Sales tax revenues climbed during Super Bowl month, despite weather

By Gordon Dickson

gdickson@star-telegram.com

Despite two winter storms that crippled the North Texas region during Super Bowl week, six cities with the most to gain from game enjoyed a healthy shot in the arm from sales tax revenues, a state report shows.

Arlington, Fort Worth, Grapevine, Hurst, Mansfield and Southlake — cities that either hosted Super Bowl events or have regional shopping attractions — saw their sales tax payments collectively go up 4.4 percent in February when compared to same time period last year, according to a Star-Telegram analysis of figures released Wednesday by State Comptroller Susan Combs' office.

North Texas officials said they were pleased with the sales tax revenues collected in February — even though it wasn’t quite the windfall many had hoped for in the days leading up to the big game.

"Any number that's up makes me happy. I was afraid it was going to be a negative number," said Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck.

In Arlington, which hosted the game at Cowboys Stadium, sales tax revenues in February amounted to $5.8 million, up 4.5 percent from the same month last year. After paying special tax incentives to businesses, the city will collect $3.26 million, Cluck said — an increase of roughly $139,000 from the same month a year ago.

Of the six cities analyzed, Southlake is the only city that showed a decrease. Sales tax collections for the city dropped 5.2 percent.

Statewide, sales tax revenues have increased for 12 straight months, showing that “strong consumer and business spending helped increase revenue in large sectors of the economy such as retail, manufacturing and the oil and gas industry,” Combs said in a prepared statement.

Texas’ sales tax revenues were up $1.6 billion, or 9.9 percent, when compared with the same month last year, she said. The figures do not reflect hotel rooms, car rentals or alcohol sales, which are taxed separately.

Super Bowl impact

When severe ice and snow socked North Texas, there was concern that fans and their wallets might not make it here in time to spend money at restaurants, hotels and other businesses. But positive economic news has continued to trickle in since the Super Bowl event ended.

If any city was poised for a letdown, it was Fort Worth, where four days of ice and snow put a damper on attendance at Sundance Square, which was home to 80 hours of live ESPN television and radio broadcasting.

But even in Fort Worth, which also housed the Pittsburgh Steelers during that frigid Super Bowl week, the city collected $6.9 million in sales tax revenue, a 4 percent increase over the same month last year.

"I know higher numbers would be better news, but anything that's [not a decline in revenue] it is good news,” Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief said. February sales down from January, when the city took in $7.6 million. But, the mayor, said, "I’ll certainly take our 4 percent increase over what some cities on both coasts are experiencing.”

Concern about state budget woes, cuts in education and possible teacher layoffs also might have kept people away, said Horatio Porter, Fort Worth budget director. “Consumers tie up their purse strings more than usual” when they hear that type of news, he said. “It’s hard to quantify the impact of the weather and everything else in one day.”

Porter said a more detailed analysis of where consumers spent will be available in the coming days. Also later this month, statistics outlining hotel occupancy tax collections will also be available.

The city is expecting a bump in sales tax receipts this week, with more than 400,000 expected in town for the NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway.

“We continue to be blessed with signs showing recovery, and there growth indicators as well,” Moncrief said.

Southlake Mayor John Terrell said he didn’t know what to make of the 5.2 percent sales tax revenue drop in his city. Town Square was hopping the night before the Super Bowl, he said.

“The owner of the Steelers stayed at our Hilton. We had a very large Super Bowl party the Saturday night before the game. It was just packed,” said Terrell, who was driving back from Austin on Wednesday night.

Town Square continues to grow, and the city is discussing adding garden district lofts to increase the residential presence downtown, he said.

The sales tax figures released on Wednesday do not include any reimbursements to the cities out of the Major Events Trust Fund set up for the Super Bowl. Cities have 90 days after the game to deposit their $4.3 million portion to the fund while the state will deposit $26.8 million. That money can be used by cities, such as Arlington and Fort Worth, to reimburse themselves for Super Bowl-related expenses such as police, fire and emergency personnel staffing for the game.

Small cities, big bucks

Some smaller cities in Tarrant County fared even better.

In Grapevine, where hundreds of people stayed in hotels and attended Super Bowl-related events, revenues climbed 7 percent. That city collected $2.3 million.

Euless saw a 12 percent bump in sales tax revenues, to $738,000.

“Go up to highway 121 where Lowe’s is. It’s jam-packed in there,” said Euless Mayor Mary Lib Saleh, who believes “people are spending money again.”

Hurst posted a 4.7 percent increase, Mansfield a 9.3 percent bump and North Richland Hills a 1.8 percent hike.

Bedford, however, reported a decline in sales tax revenues of 0.9 percent, to $622,000. City officials are studying the decline, said Clifford Blackwell,cq te Bedford administrative services director. He said city officials hadn’t noticed abrupt changes, such as large numbers of businesses closing.

“In all likelihood the businesses are still there and thriving; they just didn’t do the same amount of sales as last year,” he said. “It may be the recession, or just consumer choice.

Dallas, which hosted the National Football League as well as the 4,000-strong media contingent, reported a 6.2 percent bump in sales tax receipts. Irving, which was home base for the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, posted an 8.5 percent increase.

Later this week, Combs' office will send April sales tax allocations of $279.4 million to Texas cities, which is a 5.2 percent increase when compared to April 2010. The comptroller also reported that, year-to-date, city sales tax allocations are running 6.7 percent higher than last year.

Details on the April sales tax payments to individual cities, counties and other entities are available at the comptroller’s website: window.state.tx.us

Staff writers Andrea Ahles, Max B. Baker, John Henry and Steve Norder contributed to this report.

Gordon Dickson, 817-390-7796

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