Sales Tax Collections For MAPS 4 Off To Rocky Start

MAPS 4 sales tax collections are off to a historically rocky start due to COVID-19.

Collections for the eight-year penny sales tax started April 1.

MAPS projects don't begin until all the money has been secured by the penny sales tax.

The city's economist predicts sales tax collections will be severely bad until at least July.

Yet, Mayor David Holt does not think coronavirus will have a big impact on $978 million MAPS 4 program.

“Maybe there is going to be a particular project delayed a few months later than it would be normally. That is a difference that would never be noticed by the general public,” Holt said.

The mayor is more concerned with the dramatic drop in oil and gas.

The city's economist said he thinks sale tax will bounce back after the summer, but he still predicts the recession will last much of 2021.

"Ten years ago, we started to MAPS 3 in the middle of a recession and ended up raising $50 million more that anticipated,” Holt said.

Holt said economists accounted for recessions when putting together the MAPS 4 predictor models.