Cross Timbers Business Report, Volume 13, Number 3, Spring 2000 Page: 4

                                
Gross Sales Figures Mixed in Area Counties
By Dawn Stansberry

Third quarter 1999 gross sales figures reported by the
State Comptroller's Office are mixed compared to 1998
third quarter totals. Bosque and Erath counties reported
increases while Comanche, Eastland, and Hamilton
counties suffered declines. All counties showed declines
in the number of businesses filing sales and use tax re-
ports.
Bosque County experienced the greatest sales increase
among local counties. Last year's third quarter sales of
$48.2 million represent a gain of 12 percent over the
third quarter 1998 figure. The number of reporting busi-
nesses declined from 329 in 1998 to 317 in 1999. Even
with the loss of businesses Bosque county displayed a
4.6 percent increase in the first three quarter's cumula-
tive total over the same period in 1998.
Erath County's number of reporting businesses de-
clined from 677 in third quarter 1998 to 637 in the third
quarter of 1999. County businesses reported $131.8
million in gross sales for the third quarter of last year,
which represents an increase of 4.7 percent over the third
quarter of 1998. January-September totals for 1999 were
up 1.3 percent over 1998 values.
Eastland County's 1999 third quarter gross sales of
78.1 million dropped 17.8 percent compared to the third
quarter 1998 total' The cumulative figure for the first
nine months of 1999 fell by 9.1 percent compared to the
Students in Free Enterprise
Tarleton State University
P.O. Box T-170
Stephenville, TX 76402

same period in 1998. 472 businesses filed reports for the
July-September period in 1998, but only 462 filed during
the same three-month period in 1999.
Comanche County also suffered a decline in gross
sales in the third quarter of 1999. The $45.9 million re-
ported for 1999 represents a 7.8 percent retreat from the
1998 sales level. Businesses reporting in Comanche
County fell by ten, from 277 in 1998 to 267 in 1999.
Cumulative gross sales for the first three-quarters of
1999 were up 1.6 percent over 1998's same-period lev-
els.
Hamilton County's 219 businesses reported gross sales
of $25.5 million, down 5.6 percent from the third quarter
of 1998. The nine-month total for Hamilton County fell
32.4 percent from the same period in 1998.
The State Comptroller Office gathers and reports sales
and tax information on Texas' 254 counties on a quar-
terly basis. Five to six months typically elapse between
the end of a quarter and the publication of that period's
data. Gross sales consist of the total sales, leases, and
rentals of tangible personal property and all labor and
service charges incurred during the reporting period.
Dawn Stansberry is a senior human resource manage-
ment major at Tarleton State University.

Non-Profit Org.
US Postage
Paid
Permit No. 133