Picayune sales tax numbers are in for October, and they’re down for the second month in a row.

According to the city’s sales tax report, in September the city’s sales tax receipts were down 1.2 percent against last year’s and in October they were down .6 percent against the year prior. The fiscal year began in August with an increase of 1.7 percent over last year.

The most recent declines could reflect a poorer turnout at the Blues and Heritage Festival or they could mean something else altogether. 

“Sometimes we’re surprised because they’re so good, and sometimes we’re surprised because we thought they’d be good,” said City Manager Jim Luke. “So sometimes it is a roll of the dice.”

But even with the slide, the numbers aren’t all bad news because last year brought in big sales tax gains for the city. So, while the past few months have been slow against last year’s numbers, they’re still the second-best returns in the last five years and the city is still within its projections for sales tax revenue. City Clerk Amber Hinton wrote in an email the city budgeted total annual sales tax revenue collections of $4,406,146, which means the city only needs to bring in $367,178 per month to meet its sales tax revenue projections, and so far the city has met most of those projections.

In August, the city’s report shows the city brought in $377,179 and then in October it brought in $370,519. Only in September did the city not meet its projection, bringing in $366,077, though the excess in the other months should make up for the shortfall.

Nevertheless, Luke encourages folks to use the Picayune Main Street’s Late Nite Shopping event to get some Christmas shopping done and help the city boost its sales tax revenues.

“We are urging everyone to shop at home and to shop at our shop at Picayune. We would want to urge everybody to do that,” Luke said. 

Besides helping the town’s coffers, the event also offers a free gift basket to one lucky shopper, and many shops are offering deep discounts, some as much as 50 percent, on merchandise. 

Luke said he’s hopeful of a good turnout tonight, and he believes the November returns will be favorable based on the Christmas on the Rails/Shop by Candlelight event. 

“I feel like we’re going to do well,” he said. “Of course it was just one night, it was Christmas on the Rails, but a lot of people said it was twice as big as the year before, but I am hopeful when we get the receipts in for November … that they’ll be good. But we urge everyone to go out and shop in Picayune.”