Sales figures for the holiday season are in and most of Orange County showed increases for that period.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced in mid-February he would send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $867.1 million in local sales tax allocations for February, 0.7 percent less than in February 2015. These allocations are based on sales made in December by businesses that report tax monthly; October, November and December sales by quarterly filers; and 2015 sales by businesses that report tax annually.

“Energy-centric cities such as Odessa, Midland, Corpus Christi and Houston continued to see decreases in sales tax allocation,” Hegar said. “Other areas of the state helped to somewhat offset those losses as cities such as San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas saw moderate increases in allocations."

While Texas had a slight decline for the month of February, Orange County, overall, had an increase of more than $44,000 compared to February 2015, an improvement of 4.25 percent as six of the seven incorporated cities showed increases. As a whole, the county is 2.78 percent ahead for the year to date.

The City of Orange was the only city with a decline based on February figures as the city's sales tax allocation was $6,820.46 less than February 2015, a decrease of 1.76 percent. For the year to date, Orange is 0.72 percent behind 2015 figures.

Bridge City had a sizable increase of 6.91 percent for the month, or approximately $10,100 more than it received in February 2015. For the year, Bridge City has received more than $264,000 from the State Comptroller's Office and is 7.22 percent above 2015 figures.

West Orange and Vidor both had increases based on February figures as well. West Orange had an increase of more than $7,000 for the month of February, an increase of 5.98 percent, while Vidor received $304,847.06 for the month of February, an increase of more than $16,000, or 5.61 percent, over February 2015 figures. The City of West Orange is 3.26 percent ahead for the year to date, while Vidor is now 1.64 percent above 2015 figures.

Bridge City

1.500%

157,431.38

147,252.40

6.91%

264,713.44

246,874.43

7.22%

Orange

1.500%

378,891.40

385,711.86

-1.76%

645,459.06

650,179.76

-0.72%

Pine Forest

1.500%

7,578.63

5,878.94

28.91%

12,394.36

10,571.12

17.24%

Pinehurst

1.500%

80,006.43

74,006.63

8.10%

129,601.92

117,168.34

10.61%

Rose City

1.500%

30,644.56

20,787.15

47.42%

50,148.24

43,568.22

15.10%

Vidor

1.500%

304,847.06

288,650.49

5.61%

473,886.11

466,194.70

1.64%

West Orange

1.250%

129,436.16

122,121.90

5.98%

224,641.43

217,538.13

3.26%

County Total

1,088,835.62

1,044,409.37

4.25%

1,800,844.56

1,752,094.70

2.78%