With the level of interest in my social media post last week about sales tax in Marble Falls, I thought it would be a good time to provide updates on a few other economic indicators as well.  The timing of information releases makes this a little bit difficult, but I’ll use the 12-month period ending in September as my window since we have sales tax, building data, and hotel data through that time period.

Sales Tax

First, with sales tax, the November 2016 report—reflecting September and third-quarter sales—was up 4.36% over the same period from the prior year and set a new record for a November report.  The full 12-month period ending with September 2016 sales was up 5.65% over the 12-month period ending in September 2015.  The amount of taxable sales during the year was $392.8 million, an increase of $21 million over the previous year.  Some of this added revenue came from nearly two dozen new businesses that opened in Marble Falls in 2016, but the vast majority of the increase came from existing businesses—a fact with which I’m thrilled.

Hotel Receipts

Late last month I shared the good news about the September 2016 report, which was up 11.3% over the September 2015 report.  The total amount collected by hotels in Marble Falls was $786,834 for the month, and nearly $9.7 million for the year—about a 3% increase over the previous year.

Construction Permits

Finally, construction activity in the city of Marble Falls continues to be very strong.  The September building report included 49 permits totaling $4,150,275.  For the period coinciding with the City’s fiscal year (October 2015-September 2016), there were 778 permits issued totaling $58,144,701.  During the previous year (Oct 14-Sep 15), the City issued 627 permits with a total value of $33,706,299.  Not included in any of these totals are the October and November 2016 building reports, which total more than $27 million in new valuation.

With timelines in place for major construction projects, and with several key properties under contract or under new ownership, the economic development outlook for Marble Falls in 2017 looks very promising.