Brookhaven received $513,448.84 in sales tax diversions in May, up 7.7 percent from the $476,603.75 received in May 2015 according to the most recent data published by the Mississippi Department of Revenue.

Gross sales were down in Brookhaven and up in Lincoln County — from $88,735,650 to $84,482,952 for the city and $14,985,863 to $17,619,791 for the county. This represents a drop of $4,252,698 for the city and an increase of $2,633,928 for the county. That means a total decrease of $1,618,770 in gross sales for the month of May from 2015-2016 in the city and county.

In 2016, there were fewer deductions in Brookhaven, which led to higher diversions on lower sales, compared to 2015.

Sales tax has a three-month cycle. Month one is when the tax is collected by the retailer, month two is when the tax is reported/paid to the DOR by the retailer and month three is when the sales tax diversion is paid by the DOR to cities.