April Revenues Off Just Slightly

            An optimist would write the headline, “Interest and Dividend Taxes Up 10.8 Percent For April.”

            A pessimist would counter with, “Business Taxes Down 6.5 Percent For April”.

            Realist that I am, I opt for a  headline attempting to split the difference.

            With only end of month accounting still to come, revenues for April are off “only” $5.7 million or 2.3 percent of the planned $252.6 million.

            That’s because business taxes account for a larger percentage of the overall take than do interest and dividend taxes.

            It’s not a bad month since $3.5 million of the shortfall is in the “other” category, and that often comes in at the very last moment.  Another $2.6 million is a giveback in the Medicaid enhancement tax, and we could well see adjustments there by the end of the year.

            Thus, April is pretty much a wash.

            Interest and dividends is in at $35.9 million as opposed to $32.4 million planned.  That should evoke a big sigh of relief since receipts had been down for earlier months, but this is the really big month.  Whew...

            Business taxes are at $73.4 million ($78.5 million was the plan).  However, that’s a category that had been running ahead of plan for most of the year, so the news is not terrible.

            Thanks to the big lottery draw at the beginning of the month, that category is 17.2 percent ahead of plan ($6.8 million vs. $5.8 million planned).

            Tobacco revenue is slightly up; liquor revenue slightly down for the month.

            Rooms and meals and real estate transfer both continue to beat plan; the former about a half million beyond the $17.0 million planned; the latter up 7.1 percent ($5.6 million vs. $6.0 million planned).  That’s rather curious for Hillsborough County since, as we’ll see when we do revenue projections in May, the county is actually behind plan for the year in the real estate transfer category.  Hmmm…

            Securities are off 11 percent ($16.1 million vs. $18.1 million planned), but there may be an explanation for that, such as lateness is arriving.

            All in all, another A month for House and Senate Ways and Means projectors!