Buchanan County officeholders and sales tax revenue are looking up this month.

The August reporting period for July is the first one this year when the county took in more general fund sales tax revenue than the same recording period in 2008 — nearly 9 percent.

County officials were elated at the news given the state of the economy and this year’s trend of lagging sales taxes.

“Everyone wants to be looking for some sort of silver lining,” County Auditor Nancy Nash said. “I feel like we’ve had one.”

Buchanan County experienced the spike in general fund sales tax receipts this July, compared to receipts in July 2008 — up from about $353,000 in 2008 to $384,000 in 2009. The August 2009 figures commissioners released Monday reflect activity from July.

“This month was a huge turnaround for us,” Ms. Nash said.

For example, sales tax revenue recorded in July dipped from roughly $579,000 in 2008 to $506,000 in 2009. June’s numbers remained flat compared to last year, but May’s dropped from about $336,000 to $306,000 and April’s dropped from $551,268 to $493,931.

Presiding Commissioner R.T. Turner attributed part of the recent spike to the number of summer softball, tennis and golf tournaments St. Joseph hosted in July.

“We’re hoping next year, the three weeks the Chiefs are in town, we’ll see a big benefit bump from that,” Mr. Turner said.

The August numbers also are higher than what the auditor’s office anticipated. Of the roughly $384,000 the county took in, it gets to keep about $356,000 after certain obligations. That’s about 44 percent more than what the office budgeted for the month — $247,000.

While August made up for previous low months, the county’s general fund isn’t out of the woods yet.

Based on sales tax revenue declines from the rest of the year, the general fund is short $112,727 of its more than $6 million budget, according to the auditor’s office.

Alyson E. Raletz can be reached at alysonraletz@npgco.com.