Lafayette July sales taxes almost double the estimate in city's 2020-21 budget

The latest sales taxes collected in the city of Lafayette are up significantly from the amount on which Mayor-President Josh Guillory based his 2020-21 proposed budget.

The July sales tax report from the Lafayette Parish School Board sales tax office, reflecting taxes paid in June, shows the city collected $7 million, up $200,000 compared with July 2019 collections of $6.8 million and up $1 million over June collections. That's the first increase in city sales taxes reported since March.

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Total retail sales in the parish reached just under $562.5 million, the highest recorded this year and the highest mark in a non-December month in six years, according to data from the Lafayette Economic Development Authority.

Guillory's proposed budget, which is under review by the city and parish councils, is based on an average of $3.8 million a month for July through October. The new fiscal year begins Nov. 1.

The mayor-president's administration projected the city of Lafayette will end the current 2019-20 fiscal year with $67 million in collections, according to a Monday news release from the City Council Office. If the upward trend reported Monday continues through October, the city could end the fiscal year with $79.4 million in collections, an increase of more than $12 million from the proposed budget.

Monday's report may give the City Council more money to restore some of the cuts the mayor-president made.

"We have an opportunity to be a little more optimistic than we were told," City Councilwoman Nanette Cook said Monday. "We still need to be careful. But the numbers are nowhere near the 27% decrease the budget is built on."

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Guillory is cutting about $6 million from the budget. He laid off more than 100 full- and part-time employees since June and is shutting down recreation centers, the science museum, Heymann Performing Arts Center and cutting subsidies to the Cajundome and Acadiana Center for the Arts, all of which are entirely funded by the city. Guillory said the cuts are needed due to a drastic reduction in city sales tax collections since March, when businesses were shut down to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Even during April, the month when most businesses were closed, the city sales taxes were not as low as the mayor-president estimated for the final months of the 2019-20 fiscal year and in his proposed 2020-21 budget.

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City Council Chairman Pat Lewis, in a news release, said it makes sense to revisit the assumptions upon which Guillory based his budget.

“Projecting a full 27% decrease from the 2019 budget is unrealistic," Lewis said, "and I think that has led to false pressure to close facilities and lay off employees. Now that we have a better sense of what the economic recovery may look like for Lafayette, it’s important that we take a more reasonable look at how to project revenue going forward.”

The City Council could free up $6.5 million in its general fund by simply projecting the remainder of the current fiscal year's sales tax collections at 15% lower than 2019 collections instead of the more drastic 27% decrease in Guillory's budget, Lewis said in the release.

Collections were up in all six municipalities as well as the unincorporated areas, but the biggest jump was in the city of Lafayette. Retail sales topped $382.5 million, the most recorded in June since 2014.

Sales remain behind last year’s pace parishwide and in most municipalities, including over 6% in the city of Lafayette. Sales in Carencro (7.2%) and Youngsville (8.5%) are the only ones ahead of last year’s totals through June.

Other data points of note from the city of Lafayette in June:

Sales at grocery stores dipped slightly but remain above normal due to the pandemic. Sales reached $25.2 million, down from the $26.5 million in May but still the highest ever for June.
Restaurant sales reached $33.6 million, the highest amount recorded during the pandemic and the most ever recorded in June.
After three months of slumping sales, apparel sales reached $17 million, the highest this year. It had dipped to below $3 million in April.
Jewelry stores had another significant bump in sales to total $11.2 million, up from $8.5 million in May and $4.8 million in April.
Hotel receipts jumped to $3.16 million, its biggest total since February.