The first full financial effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was made known this week for the City of Oxford.

Mississippi’s Department of Revenue released the tax collections for May, and Oxford was up 27 percent from their April collection numbers and down 8 percent from May 2019.

Oxford collected $776, 964.25 in sales tax in May, down from May 2019’s sales tax collection of $840,528.64. All restaurant dining rooms and bars were open, along with all non-essential businesses for most of May, providing the opportunity to recoup more tax revenue that originally projected.

Oxford stadium tax, or food and beverage tax, collection for May of this year was down nearly $94,000 from last year. Oxford took in $201,260 in April, compared to the $296,570 collected in 2019.

The tourism tax was down nearly $32,000, with Oxford collecting $12,124 compared to the $41,489 collected last year.

The state tax numbers are reported roughly two months behind. June’s numbers will be released next month.