Sales tax collections in St. Lawrence County are up 3.4 percent over the same time last year, according to a state comptroller’s report.

Sales tax collections in the first half of 2018 are up to $28,404,852 compared to $27,760,755 in the first half of 2017.

The upward trend is welcomed by the county and municipalities but the jump lags behind the state average. Local sales tax collections in New York State for the first half of 2018 were $8.5 billion, a 6.0 percent increase over the same period last year. This was the highest half-year increase since 2010 and the fourth consecutive period of strengthening local sales tax collections.

Several economic factors may have helped to boost this continued statewide growth in local sales tax collections, according to the report.

The state’s unemployment rate for June 2018 was 4.5 percent, the lowest in over a decade. Meanwhile, wage growth in the first half of 2018 has remained mostly steady overall, slightly outpacing last year. Consumer confidence is also quite high, spending is up slightly and tourism remains strong throughout the state, the report says.

Inflation was up by 2.9 percent in June 2018 over June 2017, the highest year-over-year increase since June 2011.

One major factor affecting sales tax collections at the local level, especially in the upstate regions, is the amount generated from the sale of motor fuel. The motor fuel sales tax component increased by 13.9 percent from the first half of 2017, marking the third consecutive half-year increase.

Motor fuel sales tax collections are closely related to gas prices, and over the past year, prices have increased by 12.6 percent, from an average price of $2.56 per gallon in the first half of 2017 to $2.89 in the first half of 2018.

The full report can be viewed at https://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/research/first-half-2018-local-sales-tax-collections.pdf .