City sales tax shows February improvement

City sales tax revenues showed year-to-year improvement in February for the first time in six months, the city of Springfield said Monday.

The city's 1-cent general revenue sales tax brought in $2.48 million in February, up 1.4 percent from February 2009. The year-over-year increase is the first since August, when revenues increased 0.6 percent compared to the year before.

For fiscal year 2010, which began July 1, general sales tax revenue totals $23.3 million, down just less than $2 million - or 7.8 percent - from the first eight months of fiscal 2009.

The city is down roughly $90,000 since making additional cuts to the current budget in January. Those cuts, which included withholding funds from a variety of departments and the continuation of a yearlong hiring freeze, were made to cover a $1.27 million revenue shortfall in the fiscal year's second quarter. City officials review the yearly budget quarterly to determine if cuts are needed to keep up with declining revenues.[[In-content Ad]]