MANSFIELD — Richland County will receive more than $3 million in sales tax revenue for September, an all-time high for the county, according to Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero.
“These are all the monies collected by the state in the month of June that come to us in September,” Vero said. After retailers collect sales taxes from a purchase, it typically takes the state about three months to process the money and distribute it to counties.
The September figure is a county record, as far as county staff can tell, and represents roughly a 50 percent increase over what commissioners expect in a standard month. Vero said collections totaled $2.2 million in January but dropped as low as $1.9 million in April, with a typical monthly average of $2.3 million to $2.4 million.
“It varies based off of the economic activity,” Vero said.
Richland County’s sales tax rate is 7 percent, which Vero says is one of the lower rates in the state. Ashland County also taxes sales at 7 percent, while neighboring Huron, Crawford, Morrow and Knox counties all charge 7.25 percent. Franklin and Cuyahoga counties sit at 8 percent, among the highest in Ohio.
County commissioners have the power to raise or lower the sales tax rate, but Vero said they have no plans to do so. “We don’t want to do that,” he said. “A lower sales tax incentivizes spending in Richland County.”
