SIMI VALLEY : Sales Tax Revenue Shows an Increase

The recession may be slowly lifting in Simi Valley, where sales tax revenue has risen about 8% in the past fiscal year and increased by a whopping 18.5% this spring over last spring, city officials said Thursday.

“We saw what I think is being seen in the national economy--a little mini-recovery in the early part of the (fiscal) year, kind of a flat Christmas, a down third quarter and a rising fourth quarter,” Mayor Greg Stratton said. “That’s a good sign.” The city’s fiscal year began July 1.

Simi Valley recorded $1.7 million in sales tax during the state Board of Equalization’s quarterly period ending May 13, up 18.5% from the same period last year, when it took in $1.45 million.

And the city took in $6.79 million in sales tax so far for fiscal year 1993, up about 8% over fiscal year 1992, when it recorded $6.29 million in sales tax revenue, according to Deputy City Manager Bob Heitzman.

“This is the quarter after the Christmas quarter, where we’d be expecting to go down somewhat,” Heitzman said. “This indicates we’re starting to see some improvement.”

Simi Valley merchants are “cautiously optimistic,” said Nancy Bender, executive director of the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

“Our members have said that things look like they are picking up and that there seems to be more consumer dollars being spent, and that overall, things are looking better,” Bender said. “They don’t feel that the recession is behind them yet, but that it is loosening up for them.”