The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The city of Orange is starting the new year with a big drop in sales tax payments as Pinehurst, West Orange, and Vidor have healthy increases.

Sometimes with the city of Orange's drops, the percentage changes could be with the Texas Comptroller's Office which collects all sales taxes from businesses. The office sends entities their shares after keeping the state's share. Often, the state office mistakenly sends sales taxes from Pinehurst and West Orange to the city of Orange because they have the same Zip code.

Don't fault the comptroller's office, though. Longtime24,168 residents get confused about the three cities, which have lines that zig-zag in and out of each other. For instance, MacArthur Drive, which is also Texas Highway 87, is in the city of Orange. The north side of the drive is in Pinehurst and the south side is in West Orange. Get to the end of MacArthur, where the traffic circle one was, and the businesses are in Orange.

However, the difference in Pinehurst collecting almost $8,000 more, and West Orange getting about $12,300 more, is not enough to account for the drop of $179,000 for Orange.

The payments sent this month are for sales in the month of November, which included extended Black Friday sales. Because this is the first payment of the calendar year, the monthly comparisons to January last year are the same as the year to date.

Orange, with a 1.5 percent sales tax, collected $455,136, down from $624,168 last year, a drop of 28.68 percent. The city had seen similar large jumps on some months last year.

Pinehurst received $60,535 for November, an increase of 14.97 percent from the $52,650 last year. The city also has a 1.5 percent sales tax.

West Orange, with a 1.25 percent sales tax, collected $130,406, compared to $118,111 last year, an increase of 10.4 percent.

Vidor has a 1.5 percent sales tax and received $303,565 for November, an increase of 16.26 percent from $261,100 last year.

Bridge City had a drop of 2.13 percent, collecting $173,595, compared to $177,388 last year. The city also has a 1.5 percent sales tax.

Orange County saw an increase of 3.78 percent, receiving $579,210, compared to $558,090 last year. The county has the lowest sales tax of 0.5 percent.

Orange County Emergency Services District 3, or the Little Cypress Fire and Rescue Department, is the only special district in the county with a sales tax. The tax is 1.5 percent and the department got $25,040 this month, compared to $31,372 for the same time last year.

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