'We're still not out of the woods,' Jefferson Parish President John Young says
First, the good news: Jefferson Parish's sales tax receipts for January were up more than 10 percent from a year earlier, marking the seventh straight month of year-over-year increases and fueling optimism about the parish's continued recovery from the national economic downturn.
View full sizeSales tax receipts are up at shopping districts and malls such as Oakwood Center in Terrytown. Now the disclaimer: Much of the reason this January's numbers look so good is because the previous January's were so bad.
In January 2010, Jefferson's sales tax receipts plunged 18 percent, raising concerns about a significant budget shortfall that prompted parish officials to issue a hiring freeze.
Parish President John Young said it was the worst month in recent memory.
With the bar set so low, it tempered enthusiasm for the news that January's tax receipts had increased nearly $1 million from the previous year to $10.3 million, a 10.5 percent surge.
"The trends are positive, but we're still not out of the woods yet," said Young, noting that January's total was still 9 percent below January 2009.
Young also emphasized that January's auto sales, a key big-ticket item, jumped nearly 20 percent from the previous year, which he haled as a sign that the parish's economic recovery is gaining steam.
A surge in tax receipts in the second half of 2010 offset the slump at the beginning of the year. The parish ended 2010 with a modest gain of $1.8 million in sales taxes, which totaled $132 million.
Jefferson's sales tax receipts, which account for about a quarter of parish revenues, had fallen steadily since peaking at $170 million in 2006 because of the buying binge that followed Hurricane Katrina. That downward trend ended with the slight increase in 2010.
Most other governmental entities in Jefferson Parish had double-digit percentage sales tax increases in January.
Harahan's receipts skyrocketed 67 percent from the previous January, rising nearly $70,000 to $174,000. Kenner had the second highest percentage gain, with a year-over-year increase of 20 percent or $437,000 to $2.5 million.
The entities that failed to register double-digit increases were Gretna, where receipts were up 6 percent, and Westwego, where collections fell 9 percent from a year earlier, a drop of $12,500.
Sales tax collections were up at nearly all shopping districts and malls across the parish. The Lakeside mall in Metairie and Oakwood mall in Terrytown led the way with hefty year-over-year increases of about 40 percent.
After an 8 percent drop in tax receipts last year, the Esplanade mall in Kenner showed signs of recovering with a 31 percent increase in January from a year earlier.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Elmwood shopping district had a 12 percent drop in January, following a 7 percent drop in December.
Young said traffic disruptions linked to the $1.2 billion project to widen the Huey P. Long Bridge are likely contributing to Elmwood's decline.
Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3785.