“Ho-hum” is the description used by Manhattan Finance Director Bernie Hayen when referring to the latest sales tax report, with a slight up-tick in sales tax collections for Manhattan in September. Hayen points to the numbers which are slightly down one month and slightly up the next.
Collections for September in Manhattan were $920,565–which is more than the amount collected in September the last three years. The net budget impact for September is $14,825 with the $10,320,000 in estimated sales taxes budgeted for this point of 2016 indicating a negative $42,340 behind budget projections.
Hayen explains the annual estimate of sales tax collections to be budgeted as a less than perfect science, with only about five months of actual collections of the current year used to put together projected estimates for the remaining seven months of the current year and 12 months in the upcoming budget year.
