SIMI VALLEY : 2% Gain in Sales Tax Revenue Reported

Simi Valley sales tax revenue for the last quarter of 1993 was up slightly over the same period a year ago, a move that city officials said signals the end of the recession in Simi Valley.

The city will receive $1,856,766 in sales tax revenue from the state Board of Equalization for the last quarter of 1993, an increase of about 2% over the $1,790,123 it received in the last quarter of 1992.

The city tax revenues represent 1% of sales in the city.

“We think this was a real definite sign that the recession has turned around for Simi Valley,” Mayor Greg Stratton said. “Last year, we thought we hit rock-bottom and then started to go back up, and this confirms that.”

City officials also said sales tax revenues in the first three quarters of fiscal year 1993-94 are up 5.1% over the same period the year before.

But officials at the Board of Equalization, which distributes the tax allocations, cautioned that the figures for the last quarter of 1993 could still change.

“This is not really a true reflection of what has happened,” Steve Martarano said. “It’s just an estimate.”

Deputy City Manager Bob Heitzman disagreed, saying the figures are part of an upward trend.

“This number does have some measure,” he said. “It’s based on collections due back to Simi Valley.”

Healthy retail sales at Christmas may have had something to do with the increase, Heitzman said.

Stratton also gave credit to a city program encouraging residents to shop locally.

But the Jan. 17 earthquake, which temporarily closed some businesses, could skew first-quarter 1994 figures, he said.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag,” he said. “We may see a bounce; you know all the hotels were full and people were eating out a lot. But on the other hand, some restaurants and businesses had to close temporarily because they were damaged.”