BROADCASTS.com

MCALLEN, RGV - Taxable retail sales were up seven percent in the Rio Grande Valley over the past year, says the executive director of Rio South Texas Economic Council.

Based on statistics provide by the Texas Comptroller\u2019s Office, Matt Ruszczak crunches the numbers to see how well the region is doing compared to the other parts of Texas. He says the Valley did very well, as compared to Texas as a whole.

\u201cTexas was up 4.71 percent. Nice strong growth,\u201d Ruszczak said. \u201cBut the Valley\u2019s growth was seven percent, year over year. Not only is that significantly stronger than that of the state as a whole, and a really good growth rate, in and of itself, it is also the second year in a row that we are in that seven percent range.\u201d

Looking at the numbers county by county, Ruszczak reports that between Nov. 1, 2018 and October 31, 2019, Cameron County\u2019s taxable retail sales were up 4.15 percent. Willacy County\u2019s taxable retail sales were up 2.28 percent. Hidalgo County\u2019s taxable retail sales were up 8.39 percent. And Starr County\u2019s taxable retail sales were up 8.07 percent.

Of the 44 taxing communities in the Valley, 42 were up year over year. \u201cThat is a great statistic,\u201d Ruszczak said. The two communities to show a dip in sales tax revenues were Progreso Lakes, down 2.4 percent, and Raymondville, down 2.09 percent.

The above podcast provides a lot more analysis of the taxable retail sales for the Rio Grande Valley for the year between Nov. 1, 2018, and Oct. 31, 2019.\xa0

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