Brookhaven’s sales tax diversion for June was $488,514.10. That number, from data recently released by the Mississippi Department of Revenue, is down 5.06 percent from $514,551.97 in June 2015.

Total gross sales in July were $86,331,542 for Brookhaven, down 4.24 percent from $90,150,488 in June 2015. The county also saw a loss in gross sales since last year. In June, there were $16,916,733 in gross sales, down 14.92 percent from the $19,882,321 in gross sales in June 2015.

Sales tax has a three-month cycle. Month one is when the tax is collected by the retailer, month two is when the tax is reported/paid to the DOR by the retailer and month three is when the sales tax diversion is paid by the DOR to cities. This means the number labeled June reflects the sales tax collected in May of that year, which the city actually receives a check for in July.

City clerk Mike Jinks wasn’t worried, despite the drop.

“In April, there’s not a lot going on,” he said. “There’s just nothing to generate a lot of extra sales like you do when a holiday is coming up or back to school is coming up. Those kinds of things generate extra sales.”

Jinks said that the city is budgeted at about $475,000 each month, and excess funds are saved to handle the months that fall below that number.

“We know during some months we won’t get 475 (thousand), but there are months we get over 500 (thousand),” he said.

Jinks said their revenue from sales tax diversions is within $1,400 of projected revenues so far this year.