Sales-tax revenues in East Baton Rouge Parish continued to show stability in April, finishing only slightly below the collections from April of 2009.

A report released by the City-Parish Finance Department today shows that revenues from the 2-percent sales tax that goes into the City-Parish General Fund totaled $13.1 million in April, a decrease of 2.76 percent compared to April of 2009. For the first four months of 2010, East Baton Rouge sales tax collections are 5.65 percent below the amount taken in during the same period in 2009.

Mayor Melvin “Kip” Holden said the latest sales-tax numbers show that the Baton Rouge economy recovering from the national recession. The Mayor said he expects the trend of stronger sales tax numbers to continue in East Baton Rouge Parish..

Sales-tax revenues for March of 2010 were only 0.99 percent below the collections for March of 2009.   Prior to that, collections had fallen by 7.22 percent in February, 11.99 percent in January and 15.25 percent in December.

The last time that monthly sales-tax revenues exceeded collections from the previous year was back in March of 2009, when the $14.4 million in sales taxes exceeded the $14.2 million from March of 2008.

The Mayor said East Baton Rouge Parish’s economy has remained stronger than most cities during the national recession, and has managed to avoid service cuts that have become common in many urban areas.

For more information about East Baton Rouge sales-tax collections, go to: http://www.brgov.com/dept/finance/5yrhistsalestax.htm