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MCALLEN, RGV - The Rio Grande Valley continues to do well in sales tax revenues, Matt Ruszczak reports.

Ruszczak, executive director of South Texas Economic Council, crunches the numbers each month to see if sales tax revenues are up or down, compared to the same time last year. He gets the numbers from the Texas Comptroller\\u2019s Office.

The latest report focuses on sales tax revenues for June, 2019. Year-to-date, only three small communities in the Valley are performing worse than last year. Every other community is doing better. The Valley as a whole is up 7.67 percent, year-to-date, compared to the same period last year, while Texas as a whole is only up 4.19 percent over the same period.\\xa0

\\u201cThese are highly impressive numbers,\\u201d Ruszczak reported.\\xa0

El Paso County\\u2019s sales tax revenues are up 4.87 percent compared to the same period last year. Maverick County\\u2019s sales tax revenues are up 4.43 percent compared to the same period last year. Val Verde County\\u2019s sales tax revenues are up 12.38 percent compared to the same period last year.

Looking at individual cities in Cameron County for the month of June, Brownsville\\u2019s sales tax revenues were up 9.41 percent, Harlingen\\u2019s were up 5.31 percent, Port Isabel\\u2019s were up 8.85 percent, San Benito\\u2019s were up 8.39 percent, and South Padre Island\\u2019s were up 9.34 percent.

Looking at individual cities in Hidalgo County for the month of June, Edinburg\\u2019s sales tax revenues were up 9.78 percent, McAllen\\u2019s were up 5.69 percent, Mercedes\\u2019 are up 19.69 percent, Mission\\u2019s were up 6.77 percent, Pharr\\u2019s were up 15.64 percent, and Weslaco\\u2019s were up 8.93 percent.

In Willacy County, Raymondville\\u2019s sales tax revenues were up 3.48 percent in June. And in Starr County, Rio Grande City\\u2019s sales tax revenues are up 7.22 percent in June.

Click on the podcast above to listen to the full report from Matt Ruszczak, executive director of South Texas Economic Council

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.