Maricopa sales up 9%

Construction and real estate activity are helping Maricopa boost sales tax collections.

Arizona Department of Revenue released transaction privilege tax (TPT) reports for August on Sept. 21.

“Construction is leading the way,” interim Finance Director Kent Brooksby said. “I believe most of them are building homes.”

Collections in construction trades were up 15 percent compared to July. Construction is up 57 percent compared to August 2014, Brooksby said.

Though Maricopa’s “real estate, rental and leasing” category showed a dip of more than $20,000 in the past month, it is up 52 percent year-over-year.

Looking at the overall picture of collections during the course of the year and not just month-to-month, Maricopa’s commercial activity is improving.

“Construction sales tax collections are up 32 percent over last year at this time,” Brooksby said. “Likewise, real estate, rental and leasing collections are up 71 percent over the same period.”

Though retail trade showed a $58,000 increase over July, it is down slightly from a year ago.

The August total TPT collection of $843,183 was 8 percent better than July and 9 percent better than last August.

By comparison, Casa Grande’s total TPT collection in August was $1,596,058, a decrease of 17 percent from July. Much of that was due to a fall in construction sales tax collections of more than $300,000.

This story previously appeared in InMaricopa News.