Fielder's Choice

My good friend John Carney had a front page story in The Copiah Monitor (Copiah County) about sales tax collections in the municipalities covered by the newspaper.

All were up, compared to the same month last year.

Those municipalities include Hazlehurst, Crystal Springs, Wesson, Georgetown and Beauregard.

The article caught my attention. Many years ago, the Mississippi Department of Revenue sent those reports to newspapers. Then, as an editor, I gave them more attention. But I’ve slipped.

His front page article pushed me to go to the Mississippi Department of Revenue and check out our Marshall County municipalities.

The “Diversions To Cities From Sales Tax Collections” looked OK overall for the local folks and really good for the Town of Byhalia.

Byhalia’s tax collections for August were $88,915.56, compared to $52,436.80 for the same month a year ago.

The yearly summaries are on a July-June basis.

For July and August, Byhalia’s tax collections were $181,490.66 compared to $137,519.62 the same two months in 2020. That’s up almost $44,000 ­ wow!

Give part of the credit to the bounce back from COVID, maybe, but give the chunk of the credit to the business climate in Byhalia and the overall town itself.

I moved to Marshall County 20 years ago, and even then, folks would say, “it’s coming, it’s coming,” talking about the growth in Byhalia. It’s here, but yes, it’s still coming, too.

In the City of Holly Springs, August sales tax collections looked good, $135,055.93 this year versus $121,763.48 in 2020. For the two months, however, July and August, Holly Springs was down slightly, $240,690.33 in 2021 versus $247,225.74 last year.

The new Love’s has to be a shot in the arm for the city. No doubt, more vehicles are exiting I-22, particularly trucks.

Many of the fast food restaurants are still offering drive-through only, due to COVID and the trouble finding workers, and that likely makes a difference. Plus, they’re closing earlier, too. Lots of travelers prefer drive-through. But lines are long. And then some, travelers and home folks, are eager to relax and dine-in.

In the Town of Potts Camp, sales tax collections for August were $5,720.39, down from $6,731.92 for the same month last year. In July and August, for 2021, the number was $12,398.70, compared to $13,340.75 in 2020.

Over in Benton County, Ashland’s numbers were $11,361.60, August 2021, $13,477.70, August 2020 ; and for July and August, $24,539.93 in 2021, and $26,261.60 in 2020.

Hickory Flat’s numbers were August 2021, $7,544.35, August 2020, $6,708.76; and for July and August, $16,016.05 in 2021, and $14,603.25 in 2020.

In case you’re curious, here’s the sales tax collections for a couple of cities closest to us on the interstate.

• New Albany — July-August 2021, $721,919.92; and July-August 2020, $668,320.15.

• Olive Branch — July-August 2021, $2,557,222.35; and for July-August 2020, $2,192,361.65.

I’ll try to do a better job reporting the numbers. They’re certainly important.