RGV: This year's taxable retail sales up 7 percent on 2018's figures

MCALLEN, RGV - Taxable retail sales were up seven percent in the Rio Grande Valley over the past year, says the executive director of Rio South Texas Economic Council.Based on statistics provide by the Texas Comptroller’s Office, Matt Ruszczak crunches the numbers to see how well the region is doing compared to the other parts of Texas. He says the Valley did very well, as compared to Texas as a whole.“Texas was up 4.71 percent. Nice strong growth,” Ruszczak said. “But the Valley’s growth was seven percent, year over year. Not only is that significantly stronger than that of the state as a whole, and a really good growth rate, in and of itself, it is also the second year in a row that we are in that seven percent range.”Looking at the numbers county by county, Ruszczak reports that between Nov. 1, 2018 and October 31, 2019, Cameron County’s taxable retail sales were up 4.15 percent. Willacy County’s taxable retail sales were up 2.28 percent. Hidalgo County’s taxable retail sales were up 8.39 percent. And Starr County’s taxable retail sales were up 8.07 percent.Of the 44 taxing communities in the Valley, 42 were up year over year. “That is a great statistic,” Ruszczak said. The two communities to show a dip in sales tax revenues were Progreso Lakes, down 2.4 percent, and Raymondville, down 2.09 percent.The above podcast provides a lot more analysis of the taxable retail sales for the Rio Grande Valley for the year between Nov. 1, 2018, and Oct. 31, 2019. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.