Only time will tell if a sudden dip in Wood County sales tax collections is an anomaly.

The county, which collected $300,066 in sales tax revenue in February 2023, saw its income drop by more than half this month to $131,041.

The county collects a half-cent sales tax on top of the state’s 6.25% tax on retail sales, as well as cities which collect a 1.5% tax.

February tax rebates from the state comptroller’s office represent primarily sales made in December and reported to the state in January, the bulk of the Christmas shopping period.

Cities across the county also saw tax revenues drop from a year ago, except for Yantis.

The smallest municipality in the county had a large jump in revenue, up 32.6% from $14,526 a year ago to $19,262 this year.

It has earned $30,278 in the first two months of the year for a 22.65% gain over last year’s $24,685.

Mineola tax income fell almost 12% to $289,158. The city had a positive gain in January but the February loss brought the yearly total to $558,104 compared to $572,266 a year ago.

Quitman tax receipts fell by 7.53% in February to $84,872. For the year the city is 4.4% behind 2023 at $161,541.

Alba saw a similar drop at 7.55% for the month to $32,618. For the year the city remains ahead by 6.67% at $66,330.

Hawkins is slightly behind for the month and the year. The February rebate of $47,895 dropped by 1.24%. For the year the income total of $84,584 is 3.46% behind 2023.

Winnsboro saw its December revenue fall from $140,178 in February 2023 to $139,703 this year but remained ahead for the calendar year, up 1.56% to $254,962.

The six cities combined for revenues of $613,510 in February compared to $658,358 a year ago.

For the two month period, sales taxes have added $1,155,802 to coffers of cities, which had booked $1,166,717 a year ago.

The precipitous drop in county collections in February left it almost 30% behind for the year.