Finance Director Dave Byrd presents new monthly sales-tax reporting; construction leads growth

Finance Director Dave Byrd told the Beaufort County Administrative Committee on April 13 that the town has begun a new monthly sales-tax reporting package intended to show on-island gross sales tax by sector dating back to 2023. "This will be a part of the package going forward," Byrd said, adding the state's data arrives with a lag and the current package runs through December.

The presentation showed roughly $1,500,000,000 in gross taxable sales across the sectors cited by Byrd, who characterized the year-to-date change through December as essentially flat overall (about 0.2%). Byrd told the committee that construction is the fastest-growing sector — up about 19% from 2025 — while retail remains the largest sector and telecom proved a larger-than-expected source of local tax revenue.

Byrd flagged one data-quality issue: a single landscaping filer had not yet submitted fourth-quarter 2025 returns. "They're looking into that," a staff member said, and Byrd and staff said the state should reassign any corrected receipts to the appropriate months. Byrd noted that, because some categories (retail, grocery) are collected differently by the state, the town does not receive all dollars from every NAICS-coded filer but does receive accommodation and hospitality taxes.

Committee members asked for further breakdowns to help interpret local retail trends. One member suggested correlating the new reporting with an inventory of vacant commercial buildings and the length of vacancies to determine whether local closures or online shopping are driving changes in taxable retail. Byrd said staff will try to separate local versus out-of-town (online) sales where possible.

The report also covered year-to-date municipal finances through February. Byrd said overall revenues were up 12% and, after normalizing one-time items, about 1.5% year to date; he called out a software conversion issue that delayed February real-estate transfer fees but said the shortfall will be recovered in March. He also summarized the town's CIP outlook, noting a preliminary rollover of about $12.4 million of $97.7 million to 2027 and projected an approximate fund balance near $252,000,000.

Byrd recommended continuing the new monthly sales-tax reporting as a trend tool and told the committee staff would "continue to peel back the onion" to provide more granular exhibits for future budget work. The committee did not take a formal action on the sales-tax report; the presentation will feed into upcoming budget deliberations.