Collections of city real estate taxes remain on par with last year despite the COVID-19 pandemic impacts, but payroll and local services tax revenues are down due to furloughs, unemployment and job closures.

Nicholas Grimes, city tax collector and treasurer, said that first and second quarter collections of property taxes are a good sign but he’s uncertain if there will be a bounce back should the virus go away.

“Aside from a delay in collecting due to us extending deadlines to help residents, we have seen relatively no change in these collections as of Sept. 1 compared to Sept 1., 2019,” he said.

Grimes recently was able to run some numbers from the city extended tax filing deadlines.

“We are actually right on track with our real estate and mercantile tax collections,” he said.

Next year, he said, the city will see a decrease in mercantile taxes as businesses will be reporting based on the income they earned this year.

With shutdowns, limited recreation and downtown events, and no Little League World Series this year, Grimes anticipates business income in the city will decrease and lead to less mercantile tax revenue.

Councilwoman Bonnie Katz has said that she believes the city will be okay this year. The proposed budget will be tough but anticipated revenue losses will mean a challenge for 2021 spending.

“Financially, we are a little better than we expected,” Katz said.

“Our mercantile and business privilege collection are up for this year,” she said. “We know that will not be so next year … if our lobbyist were permitted to look for COVID-19 funding, we would be better off.”

Meanwhile, the earned income tax, local services tax and income taxes have gone down this year, especially during the second quarter, Grimes said.

Third-quarter payments will be due later in the month.

“We are interested to see how much employment numbers have bounced back in the city,” Grimes said.

Grimes said he anticipated some negative impact from the virus.

“We don’t know if it is going to be $50,000 or $500,000,” he said.

“We want to see how much of a bounce back there is as businesses pay their business taxes,” he said. “We want to see if we are getting near normal, or how it was pre-COVID.”