Northport Reports $7.3M In Sales Tax Revenue Collected In FY22

NORTHPORT, AL — The City of Northport has collected more than $19 million in revenue from the city's 2019 1-cent sales tax over the last three years, the City Council was informed Monday night during its regular meeting.

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City of Northport Finance Director Darren McGee provided an update on the sales tax revenue — dubbed Northport First Funds — and went into the broader details of the city's collections and expenditures, which show positive financial trends for the city.

In total, the city has collected and allocated $19,434,993 since the sales tax first went into effect, with $650,000 left at present to address different needs. What's more, the city has also seen $1 million set aside in each of the last three years to help replenish the city's reserves.

"Paving was a big thing," McGee pointed out about how the funding has been allocated. "We've done a lot of paving work and there's a lot of of [people] I'm sure are appreciative of it. We've done educational grants every year for each of the schools in the city, and we'll do that again this year."

McGee went on to say that in FY21, the city collected $6,655,539, before seeing that total rise to $7,314,116 collected during the last fiscal year.

McGee's presentation followed three different measures brought to the Council by City Engineer Tera Tubbs Monday night, including master plans adopted for an adventure sports park and improvements at Kentuck Park, along with the first big steps in Northport opening its own water park. McGee said these projects would benefit directly from the revenue generated through Northport First.

"We purchased three different properties ... [the funds] will go toward those projects that you mentioned," McGee said. "And we've allocated funds to cover some of the engineering and planning that goes into moving forward on those projects."

Apart from the planned allocations, McGee also mentioned the unexpected expenses covered by the Northport First Funds.

"We had quite a bit of storm damage," he said. "These funds allowed us to cover that. Also, we had some drainage issues here, adjacent to City Hall. That was also a major expenditure."

Council President Jeff Hogg went on to laud the positive impact had on the city's reserves and a fiscally responsible attitude on the part of the city when tackling it's big wish list of projects.

As it stands, the city's reserves thanks to the sales tax funding sits at approximately 13% — in the ballpark of the 15% recommended by the city's bond agencies.

"Not only have we been able to do these projects and pay cash, but we have taken a very conservative approach on our reserves and have increased those reserves exponentially," Hogg said. "It's always easy to look at the things that you can actually see and what has been done, but to know that your city is financially stable and has the reserves to back that up is always a good thing as well."

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