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City sales tax collections rose less than 1% in August, the third straight month of flat growth after a strong start to 2026, according to figures released by Director of Finance and Treasury Alma L. Clark.
The city collected $640,305.37 for the month, up $4,067.39 from the $636,237.98 collected in August 2025. That works out to a 0.64% gain. The monthly figures reflect retail sales from June.
Growth has cooled steadily since spring. City collections ran between 3.2% and 5.1% ahead of the prior year each month from January through April, then slipped to 2.5% in May and 0.6% in June. July collections came in 0.4% below the same month in 2025, the first year over year decline of 2026.
Even with the slowdown, August was the strongest August the city has recorded in data going back to 1992. Collections through the first eight payments of the year total $4,831,222.11, also a record, and the city is running $113,562.47 ahead of last year’s pace. That is a 2.41% year to date increase.
Mountain Home’s share of the Baxter County sales tax moved in the opposite direction in August. The city collected $316,406.93, up $16,347.16 from $300,059.77 a year ago, a 5.45% jump after a nearly flat July. Year to date, the county share is up $110,159.93, or 4.99%.
The county tax is levied countywide and shared among Baxter County and its cities, so it reflects sales outside Mountain Home’s city limits as well as inside them.
Public safety sales tax collections totaled $240,114.52, up $1,525.28 from $238,589.24 in August 2025. That is the same 0.64% monthly gain and 2.41% year to date gain posted by the general city tax, because both are levied on the same sales. Public safety collections are up $42,585.93 for the year.
The park improvement sales tax brought in $320,152.69, or $105,527.74 more than the $214,624.95 monthly bond payment the city owes in 2026. Through August, the tax has produced about $698,600 more than those payments required. The parks operations sales tax collected $160,076.34 for the month.
Mountain Home budgeted $7 million in sales tax revenue for 2026, less than the $7,156,882.24 the city actually collected in 2025. If collections hold at their current pace through December, the city would finish the year near $7.3 million.
