A very good sales tax quarter for Vacaville

Article Launched: 05/11/2005 07:49:01 AM

A very good sales quarter for Vacaville

By Barbara Smith/Business Writer

Vacaville's sales tax revenue spiked to $3.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2004, a significant increase from the same period last year.

Ken Campo, finance manager, said the additional revenue was a 24.3 percent increase above $3.1 million Vacaville received in the fourth quarter of 2003. The city was still up about 19.5 percent, despite a "clean up" payment for a company that moved to Vacaville and didn't report it to the State Board of Equalization.

"We're looking at $14 million dollars in sales tax revenue that goes into the city's general fund," Campo said. "We're now neck and neck with Fairfield, in terms of total dollars."
Campo attributed the sales tax growth to the city's new auto dealerships and relatively new ownership of the Vacaville Premium Outlets, which are commonly known as the Factory Stores.

"As the old leases are expiring, they are replacing them with more premium type stores, and the market reception to that has been extremely favorable," Campo said.
Meanwhile, a rise in taxable sales and personal income in the state was revealed in preliminary statewide data released Tuesday. Holiday sales pushed taxable sales to about $131.3 billion, but quarterly growth rates have generally increased since mid-2002, according to a press release.
The state Web site showed estimated sales tax distributions for Solano county for the period March 12 through April 13 as $896,900. Tax distributions for each city are estimated to be:

• Vacaville $632,900
• Dixon $210,500
• Fairfield $844,700
• Rio Vista $ 44,300
• Suisun City $ 46,400
• Vallejo $628,800
• Benicia $192,600

The basic statewide sales and use tax (7.25 percent) is thrice divided - 6.25 percent goes to the state, 0.75 percent goes to the local jurisdiction and 0.25 percent to the local transportation fund.

Barbara Smith can be reached at business@thereporter.com.