Sales tax diversions in Brookhaven continued to drop in October, at $455,966.59, down $15,470.90 from the $471,437.49 in September.

This is a greater difference than the $4,658 drop from August to September. However, unlike in September, the numbers for October are up $3,717.79 from October of last year, representing a 0.82 percent increase.

City Clerk Mike Jinks said it’s not uncommon for tax diversions to drop around October.

“There are certain times of year you’re going to have more coming in,” Jinks said. “Two months from now, we’ll have a good check because of Black Friday.”

Brookhaven budgets about $470,000 a month for tax diversions, but Jinks said it’s not unusual for actual diversions to go over or under that number throughout the year.

“They would appear on paper to be a little behind,” Jinks said. “Because of the time of year they’re a little under budget. A little later we’re going to be over.”

Gross sales in Brookhaven were $83,706,663 for October, down 2.28 percent from September and down 7.57 percent from October 2015, where gross sales were $90,559,966. Gross sales for the county were $18,140,955, which also represent a $924,797 drop from the $19,065,752 in gross sales for October, 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 October reflects the sales tax collected in September of that year, which the city actually receives a check for in November.