State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn released the latest sales tax revenue figures last Friday, and Houston and METRO are enjoying a windfall:
Year-to-date, sales tax allocations to local governments are up 17 percent, compared to this time last year.
Houston received a sales tax disbursement from the state of $31.5 million for April, up from $26.1 million in April 2005.
Harris County does not collect a sales tax, but the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County assesses a 1-cent sales tax and received $32.6 million for the month.
With all that cash rolling in, one would think METRO could actually afford to add bus service (as promised in the METRO Solutions plan) instead of continuing to cut it, and one would think Mayor White could focus on priorities like crime, instead of new revenue streams.
