Seal Beach sales receipts for the second quarter of 2013 dropped 18.9 percent from the same time last year, according to HdL Companies.
Bridge construction on Seal Beach Boulevard may have been a factor in the sales decline, according to the city’s treasurer.
Countywide, sales receipts were actually up 5.4 percent over last year, according to HdL Companies.
“Receipts for Seal Beach’s April through June sales were 18.9 percent lower than the same quarter one year ago,” according to “Seal Beach Sales Tax Update,” which is published by HdL Companies.
Information about the third quarter of 2013 is not yet available.
The second quarter report was posed on the city’s website in mid-November.
“Actual sales activity was down 18.7 percent when reporting aberrations were factored out,” the HdL report said.
The tax revenue update did not say precisely what caused the large decrease.
“Decreased sales activity led to a major decline in the fuel and service stations group,” the report said.
“Accounting adjustments that inflated year-ago returns exaggerated the drop in the restaurants and hotels group,” the report said.
“Recent outlet additions helped increase revenues in the general consumer goods group while sales activity rose in the food and drugs group,” the report said.
Victoria Beatley, Seal Beach Finance Department director, said she could not say why sales tax revenues had dropped because that information was confidential.
Sales information about Seal Beach department stores, grocery store liquor sales, leisure/entertainment and petroleum equipment is classified as confidential, according to HdL Companies.
However, Beatley did say that during the second quarter, the city was still seeing the effects of the Seal Beach Boulevard bridge-widening project.
She speculated that motorists avoided the bridge and that might have effected business at the Shops at Rossmoor and Towne Center.
Restaurant selling beer and wine saw a 14.9 percent decrease in sales from the second quarter of 2012.
Restaurant liquor sales were up by a mere 0.3 percent over last year.
Restaurants with no alcohol saw a 5.4 percent decrease in sales.
Service station sales in Seal Beach were down 8.7 percent.
Home furnishing sales: down 5 percent.
Sporting goods/bike store sales: down 4.5 percent.
Women’s apparel: down 0.7 percent.
There was one conspicuous success story in the HdL Companies’ data: Seal Beach specialty stores saw a 199.3 percent increase in sales in the second quarter of this year.
According to HdL, Orange County overall saw a 5.4 percent increase in sales receipts. Two factors were an increase in car sales and in new revenues from the tax use allocation pool.
