With the federal tax filing deadline delayed to July 15, tax revenue for local governments is being pushed back as well. Daviess County Fiscal Court is seeing a decrease of around $55,000 compared to last year, while the City of Owensboro said their revenue from local tax filings is at a $1 million shortfall compared to last year.
The City’s Director of Finance and Support Services Angela Hamric said Owensboro has sufficient funds to get through the lag in payments, so that million-dollar difference won’t affect the city from a cash flow perspective.
“We’ll get the net profit tax revenue from the extended filings, just 90 days or less later,” she said.
Daviess County Treasurer James Hendrix said the revenue from net profit taxes was $175,141 last April compared to current revenue of $120,040. Last May, Fiscal Court collected $280,890.
“It will be several months before we know how many people deferred payment,” Hendrix said. “If the net profit tax was going to be the only impact of the COVID crisis, I would tell you that Daviess County will experience no impact.”
Hendrix said Daviess County has adequate reserves to cover the shortfall due to the deferred payments, but that’s only assuming everyone pays their dues in July. Fiscal Court will face other financial hardships due to the pandemic, he said.
“The state has notified us that the County Road Aid will drop from $1,509,269 to $1,364,982, and municipal road aid will drop from $276,585 to $242,667,” he said. “These amounts are determined from the gas tax and, obviously, gasoline usage is way down.”
Hendrix said Fiscal Court anticipates the motor vehicle tax being less than expected, while the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has notified the county that rent will be cut in half, for a loss of $88,000.
“I am certain that there will be other shortfalls in revenues as we start seeing the economic impacts showing up this fall,” Hendrix said. “Fortunately, Daviess County is in a financial position to manage its way through this difficult period.”
Hendrix acknowledged the last few Fiscal Courts for being financially conservative and not overspending..
“We can cut or defer expenses where necessary to compensate where revenue is less than projections,” he said.
