By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
The month of April was a busy one for Oxford with the 25th anniversary of the Double Decker Arts Festival, the Oxford Conference of the Book and lots of Ole Miss baseball.
The events brought tens of thousands of people into Oxford who ate at local restaurants, shopped at local stores and slept in local hotels – all contributing to increasing the city’s sales tax and tourism tax increases.
On Tuesday, Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill presented the tax revenue numbers at the start of the Oxford Board of Aldermen board meeting.
Sales tax for the month of April increased by 6 percent over March and 4 percent over April in 2021. The city collected $1,129,171 in sales tax in April. In the 2021 fiscal year, from July 1 to June 30, the total amount of sales tax collected was $9,283,378. As of April 30, the city has collected $11,422,893 with May and June collections still to go.
Also in April, the 2% Food and Beverage Tax brought in $432,847, up 20 percent from March and 12 percent from April in 2021. The Hotel/Motel Tax also increased, bringing in $53,431 in April, up 15 percent from March and 11 percent from April 2021.
“We are really excited to see those numbers as we’ve started meeting with our department heads to work on the budget for next year,” Tannehill said.
