NATCHEZ &045; Natchez’s sales tax revenues jumped 14 percent from February to March, according to figures the city received recently from the State Tax Commission.

The commission reports sales tax figures to the city two months after the taxes were collected by the state. For example, sales tax revenues were reported the middle of this month for March.

When the figures came in, sales revenues for March were $406,473, up from $356,370 in February. That’s also a 4.46 percent increase from March of last year, when $389,136 was collected.

So far, such revenues have been down 0.35 percent for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 compared to the same period last year &045; $3,081,828 compared to $3,092,775.

Food and lodging tax revenues were up more than 40 percent in March from February &045; $26,850 versus February’s $19,144 &045; a seasonal change that’s been seen for several years.

But such revenues were actually down 5.53 percent from March of last year, when there was $28,421 in food and lodging tax revenues.

City Clerk Donnie Holloway said he’s not sure why tax revenues from restaurants, hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns were down compared to the same month last year.

&uot;Evidently, there weren’t a lot of people staying in town overnight, because there were a lot of people&uot; walking through the downtown shopping district during the day in March, Holloway said.