Sales tax collections were up in Andalusia and Opp in August, compared to last year.

Collections in Andalusia for the month of August (collected in August, paid in September) were $579,593, or 4.45 percent higher than the same period last year.

In Opp, collections were up 3 percent over last year at $167,757.

Andalusia City Clerk John Thompson said August is the first month in the current fiscal year that sales taxes numbers could be definitively compared to the same month last year. In 2013, the city added a sales tax that was implemented in August.

“This is good news, and shows that retail business is definitely up in the Andalusia market,” he said.

Andalusia collected $6.5 million in sales taxes in the first 11 months of the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Opp City Clerk Connie Smith said her city’s number was $2.03 million for the same period of time, a less than one percent decrease from the previous year.

“We’re very pleased,” she said.

Of the 1.5-cent sales tax approved in 2013 in Andalusia, the first penny was to generate matching funds for a grant received by the City of Andalusia to improve South Three Notch Street. The remaining third is for the Andalusia City School system.

The Opp City Council passed an additional 1-cent city tax in July 2007, increasing Opp’s total sales tax to 9 percent. The additional tax was passed to help fund the $10 million bond issue for the new Opp Elementary School.

The City of Florala is poised also to increase its sales taxes, and last month approved a budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year that can be funded only if the council approves a new tax.