Brownwood officials are watching budgets closely as sales tax numbers lagged in February, a key month for sale tax allocations according to Director of Finance for the City of Brownwood Walter Middleton.

“My concern is the month of February is down compared to February of last year,” Middleton said Tuesday at the Brownwood Economic Development Corporation board meeting.  “February represents for us traditionally our Christmas sales because that represents December retail activity.”

He said that generally, if the city does not perform well through the month of February, then they will likely not meet budget projections.

“I am anticipating we’re not going to make budget projections and our hope is that we’ll come close, and I think that is about the best we are going to be able to do,” Middleton said.

Sales tax for the city of Brownwood showed a 4.8% decrease in revenue for February compared to the same month last year; now down about 5% total from city projections.

He said that the state is outperforming Brownwood on sale tax collections with a stable increase, but some other cities about the size of Brownwood have also struggled with sales tax numbers in February.

“So far, even though the percentages are fairly large, the dollar amounts haven’t been that bad,” Middleton said.  “We were pretty conservative with the 2% growth projection.”

One concern expressed at the BEDC meeting was what the sales tax decline indicates for local businesses.

“One concern is the city budget, but the larger concern is what is happening to the economy locally,” Middleton said.  “We have had years where we started off slow and things went gangbusters.”

Although officials will continue to keep an eye on the local economy and the city budget as the year moves forward, they said that a healthy spring and summer could turn things around.

“We will continue to be optimistic,” said BEDC Director Emily Crawford.  “And will continue to encourage people to shop at home.”