San Benito sales tax revenues hold steady

SAN BENITO - A small shopping center will help bolster sales tax revenues that have held steady here despite the recession, city officials said this past week.

The shopping center in the 400 block of South Sam Houston Boulevard will feature a pizza restaurant and retail stores, Alma Puente Colleli, executive director of the city's Economic Development Corp., said.

"I think we're doing very well despite the economy," Mayor Joe Hernandez said.

About four stores are expected to open at the renovated building that once housed a Goodyear Tire store, Christian Gutierrez, an agent with Southern Commercial Real Estate Group, said.

"It's a great addition to downtown," Puente Colleli said. "It provides a facelift for that area. We believe other businesses will follow suit."

Officials expect that a new supermarket will contribute to a sales tax boost.

A&V Lopez Supermarkets hired 22 employees after it opened in April near the intersection of Sam Houston Boulevard and Expressway 77, said Eliseo Castro, the store's general manager.

Also contributing to local economic optimism is a plan for a multi-million-dollar project to launch a hospital at the site of the old Dolly Vinsant Memorial Hospital.

A reopened hospital will offer jobs for some of the 110 workers who lost their positions when financial problems forced the hospital to close in October 2007, officials said.

While some cities have seen their sales tax revenue shrink in the economic downturn, sales tax revenue has held steady here.

Officials are now planning the city's budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Susan Crabtree, the city's finance director, said.

State records show that from October to May, the city collected $2.56 million in sales tax revenue, up just 0.34 percent over the same period last year.

Strong October sales that boosted sales tax revenue 22 percent over the same period the year before has helped the city offset months in which sales revenues dropped, she said.