ONEIDA — The City of Oneida has been noticing sales tax revenue on the rise. In the Oneida city comptroller’s December 2022 report, sales tax revenue was reported at 17.58% over budget, and 6.82% over for 2021. Sales tax revenue received in 2022 exceeds original expectations by $891,143 as of Dec. 12.

“I absolutely think the sales tax increase is due to online sales,” Oneida City Comptroller Lee Ann Wells commented. “I also would say that we have adopted a better way to budget for sales tax going forward into 2023 where I think we will be closer to the budgeted amounts and you won’t be seeing such a drastic difference between budget and actual. That said, we are still running 6.82% over what was actually received in 2021, to me this is high and I do hope it continues to grow.”

The percentage for 2022 may change depending on future disbursement amounts, which will be received from the state through Jan. 15, 2023, Wells explained.

“Once we receive the final disbursements of sales tax revenue from the state in January 2023, we will close out the sales tax for 2022 and have a final figure on where we ended up compared to 2021 and compared to the 2022 budget,” she said.

Matt Roberts, Oneida city supervisor for Wards 1, 2, and 3, agrees that online sales have been helping drive this number up.

“I still believe that much of this is due to internet tax receipts. The trend of purchases from brick and mortar to internet actually spreads the tax revenue more evenly to jurisdictions where the purchaser lives.”

But there are other factors to consider too, he explained.

“There may also be some rise due to a better supply of automobiles also, as well as increased pricing for fuel, since taxes are a percentage of cost rather than flat.”

Madison County overall has seen a similar trend, having strong sales tax income reported so far.

Mary Cavanagh, Oneida city supervisor representing Wards 1, 2, and 3, reported at a common council meeting on December 20, “Through the most recent distribution, our sales tax revenue is at $35.4 million dollars [so far in 2022]. That’s up $2.6 million from last year, so that’s an increase of about 8 percent. Which is really good, that’s a really good trend,” she said.