Fayetteville reports modest sales-tax gains as building permits surge

Steven Dawson, the city’s chief financial officer, told the Fayetteville City Council on Sept. 2 that June taxable sales totaled approximately $289,000,000, a 4.7% rise compared with June 2024. Dawson said that led to a combined City and County sales‑tax collection increase of about 5.2, or roughly $250,000, for June and a year‑to‑date increase of about 5.4% (around $1.78 million) compared with the prior year.

Dawson said sector gains were led by other services (commercial and industrial machinery and equipment), transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade; retail trade was up by roughly $2 million while the food-services and accommodations sector declined by about 2% (~$632,000). Comparing collections to the adopted budget, he said the City’s one‑cent rate was about 1.5% above budget for June and the county portion was about 2.9% above budget, resulting in a combined month over budget increase of roughly 2.1% (~$107,000).

At the fund level, Dawson reported the general fund is up about 2.7% versus budget (approximately $557,000 through July), property tax revenue was up about 2%, and building permits were notably higher — up roughly 33% year‑to‑date (about $589,000). The airport reported flight operations up about 13.7% year‑to‑date (roughly 1,824 more operations), while gasoline sales at the municipal airport were down about 1.6% (~$26,000) for the year. Dawson closed by saying staff were available for follow‑up questions.

Council members asked technical clarifying questions. Councilmember Minister Jones asked about the magnitude of the franchise fee change; Dawson said franchise fees were down about 1%, or roughly $28,000, in the general fund year‑to‑date. No policy action was taken as part of the presentation; the report was accepted for the record.