YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s latest monthly income tax collection was less than projected, but is a rebound from the prior month, which was among the worst during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city’s income tax collection for September was $131,000 below its projections for that month, said Kyle Miasek, the interim finance director.

The city received $3,383,000 in income tax revenue when it had budgeted $3,514,000 for the month.

The income tax payments for September were made in November. Businesses had 30 days or so from the end of the month to remit the taxes to the city.

“While we were short of the target, this was a rebound month,” Miasek said.

In August, the income tax collection was $390,000 below its projections. It received $3,285,000 and had budgeted $3,675,000 for the month.

The only monthly collections worse than August was April, which was $904,500 under budget and March, which was $689,000 shy of the budgeted amount. That occurred during the start of the pandemic when numerous businesses were forced to shut down or scale back, Miasek said.

With only one more month to count in the 2020 collections, the city is expected to finish the year $2.6 million to $2.7 million under its $46,214,000 projection.

Currently, the city has collected $40,246,000 in income taxes, which is $2,513,000 less than the $42,759,000 projection for the first 11 months of this year.

The pandemic is almost entirely responsible for the shortfall, Miasek said.

The 2.75 percent income tax was budgeted to bring in $46,214,000 this year. It raised $46,664,000 in 2019.

The city only exceeded its budgeted income tax amount twice this year – by $62,600 in January and by $46,200 in June.

Because the city received $5,281,248 in federal COVID-19 funding, it won’t end this year with a deficit, Miasek said.

The city faces a challenge in determining a budgeted amount of income tax collection for 2021 because of so many uncertainties, Miasek said.

First is the impact the pandemic will continue to have on the economy in terms of reduced revenue, he said. There is no guarantee that the federal government will bail out struggling cities in 2021, Miasek said.

There is also an expected decline in income taxes because less people are working in the city, he said.

The most pressing concern for the future is a proposal in the state Legislature to repeal a change in state law allowing municipalities that collect income tax to continue to do so from people working there but are now working from home because of the pandemic.

“This could have a significant impact on many cities that depend on income tax,” Miasek said.

Youngstown gets about 85 percent of its income tax from those working in the city who live elsewhere, he said.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com