Occupational Tax collections up

For the second consecutive month McCreary County Occupational Tax collections have exceeded previous year’s totals and are off to a strong start for the fiscal year.

According to information released by Judge Executive Stephens’ office – collections for the month of August totaled $105,422.85.

That amount is more than twice the total collected over the same month in 2013 ($46,868.62) and nearly double what was brought in for August 2014 ($53,949).

For the first two months of the fiscal year more than $256,000 has been collected, and average of more than $128,000 per month.

While that average is unlikely to hold throughout the next ten months, it does put projected collections well ahead of the $1 million estimated in the current budget.

If the next ten collection periods equal collections from the previous year, more than $1.172 million will have been added to the General Fund – $172,000 over projections.

Traditionally, collections in September have shown a marked decrease due to the three-month cycle of businesses reporting to the Occupational Tax Office. Over the past three years an average of only $7,000 has been collected in the current month.