April sales tax slips in Erie County

If only it were an April fool's joke.Erie County officials likely hoped so when they first analyzed April's sales tax revenue, which was nothing short of disappointing. Consumers generated about $994,000 in sales tax revenue for the county in April, down from $1.04 million a year ago."We are $48,000 under what we had last year, but the real figure is that we're $131,000 under what we budgeted for in the month," county commissioner Bill Monaghan said.The blow will certainly impact the county's budget, especially since finance employees projected April would produce more than $1.1 million.The poor collection only magnifies a bigger problem: Finance officials need shoppers to generate an extra $67,000 in tax revenue during the next five months if the county wants to break even on projections.Each year, county commissioners earmark sales tax revenue mainly to pay for salaries and services. This stream of revenue accounts for about half of all income in the county's $25 million annual budget.Commissioners want to see the negative collection reverse so they can avoid reducing operations, which could possibly include layoffs."This is some indication of how uncertain our economy is," Monaghan said. "This is another reason why we continue to tighten our belts."