By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Revenue for Buchanan County seems to be countering conventional wisdom.
Tax revenue so far this year is up over last year, despite the blow the economy suffered from the coronavirus pandemic.
Eastern District Buchanan County Commissioner Scott Burnham says the numbers have surprised the commission.
“The revenues for 2020, and this is through September, are actually up,” Burnham tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “Our General Revenue is up about 5% and our Use Tax is up about 15% in total, which is really shocking. It’s surprising to us. Every month we get our numbers and we’re just anticipating that we’re going to see a fall back and it just has never come yet.”
Burnham says the County Commission had braced itself for a fall in revenue, perhaps even a drastic drop.
Instead, tax revenues have risen.
“I’m not sure why that is, but it could be the stimulus,” Burnham says. “I’m kind of thinking that the stimulus money that was issued has really helped the economy. So far this year, we’re looking good.”
Congress approved the CARES Act to allocate money to help in the fight against COVID-19, but also to prop up an economy which went into a deep slide when governments ordered businesses to shut down early in the pandemic.
Burnham says panic buying helped sustain the economy at first.
“Early on, people were buying up a lot, emergency buying and stocking up on things. But, again, we kind of thought that would fall off, which I think it did fall off, and that we would see a drop in the numbers,” Burnham says. “For whatever reason, it hasn’t happened yet, which we’re thankful for.”
Buchanan County collected a total of $6.639 million in General Revenue last year. The county has already collected $5.78 million this year with General Revenue collections up $272,062 over last year at this time. Use Tax collections have surged this year, up more than 15%. The county collected a total of $2.6 million in Use Tax funds last year and has already collected $2.498 million this year, an increase of $334,419.