Things continue to get (very slowly) better

Last month, we reported that while the city's revenue situation was really bad, it looked like it was slowly getting better.

Now that November's tax numbers have come in, we can report ... more of the same.

General fund tax collections in November were down 9.2 percent from the same period last year, and collections for the first five months of this fiscal year were $650.1 million, or 6.4 percent, down from fiscal year 2009, according to a report by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority.

At the same time, it looks like the city is seeing a continuing turnaround in the real estate market. November collections for the real estate transfer tax were up $2.3 million from last year's numbers, marking that tax's first year-over-year increase since April 2008.

Business Privilege Tax receipts are also up $22.7 million year-over-year for the fiscal year through November, though PICA cautions that the tax is highly variable and may yet decline.

To read a PDF of the report yourself, click here.

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