Bridge City was the only major taxing entity in the county to see an increase in sales tax payments from March compared to March of 2021.

The Texas Comptroller's Office last week sent out payments with Bridge City collecting about $20,000 more for the month this year. Other cities, plus the county, were down slightly for the month, but most still have increases for the year to date. Pinehurst and Vidor are down for the month and year.

The decreases in sales from last year could be attributed to different reasons. In 2021, people were recovering from the record February freeze plus they were still making repairs from Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020. Sales taxes across the county go up after natural disasters as people rebuild damaged properties.

Rising prices from inflation may have also slowed sales. (Gasoline does not have a sales tax, but has other state and national taxes.)

Bridge City collects a 1.5 percent sales tax and collected $234,265 for March, a 9.38 percent increase form $214,156 in March 2021. The city now has a 10.96 percent increase for the year to date with a total of $969,924 so far this year compared to $874,043 last year.

Orange dropped nearly $57,500 for the month with a payment of $674,606, a 7.84 percent drop from $732,010 in March last year. The city, though, has a year-to-date increase of 11.83 percent, collecting $3.2 million, up from $2.86 million for the same time last year. Orange also has a 1.5 percent sales tax.

Pinehurst is down in both the month and year to date. The city dropped about $14,000 for March this year with $63,024 compared to $77,056 last year, a decrease of 18.21 percent. The city has collected $281,137 for the year to date, a decrease of 4.60 percent from $294,722 last year. Pinehurst also has a 1.5 percent sales tax.

Vidor, too, is down in both categories. The city collected $341,325 for March, a drop of nearly $61,000, or minus 14.75 percent, from last year. Still, the city is almost at the same level for the year to date with $1.483 million compared to $1.488 million last year, a decrease of only 0.32 percent. Vidor also has a 1.5 percent sales tax.

West Orange has a 1.25 percent sales tax, the lowest percentage of the cities. West Orange collected $119,452 for March, a decrease of 15 percent from $140,565 for March 2021. The city is slightly up, 1.62 percent for the year to date with $582,314 this year and $573,018 last year.

Orange County collects a 0.5 percent sales tax. The county received $651,515 in sales taxes for March, down 2.18 percent from the $666,093 for March 2021. The county has a healthy year to date increase of 7.43 percent with a total so far this year of nearly $3 million, up from $2.8 million last year.

The Little Cypress Fire and Rescue Department, or Orange County Emergency Services District No. 3, is the only special district in the county collecting a sales tax. The district has a 1.5 percent sales tax, the same as most of the citys. For March, the district collected $31,490, an increase of nearly $5,000 from March last year with $26,553. The district is down for for the year to date with $117,253 compared to $126,840 last year at the same time.