Total taxable sales and purchases in the City of Williston were down for the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, according to a recent report from the Office of the State Tax Commissioner.

The North Dakota Sales and Use Tax Statistical Report for the second quarter of 2009 was released Oct. 2.

For the second quarter of 2009, covering the months of April, May and June, the total taxable sales and purchases for the City of Williston were $162,146,307. In the second quarter of 2008 the total was $189,807,887. The difference makes for a 14.57 percent decrease from the same period last year.

Economic Development Director Tom Rolfstad said the numbers were down a bit from 2008, but $162 million "is still a pretty strong number" and he believes there was a good reason for the numbers being down.

"I think the biggest thing in my mind would be that the rig counts were down during that time," said Rolfstad. Rolfstad said although seeing numbers down quite a bit may not look good, he said the numbers are still very high compared to years past. He said back in 2003, by comparison, Williston was at around $46 million. Rolfstad said the numbers have drastically increased since then and he doesn't see too much cause to worry.

"The fourth quarter is usually strongest; the oil companies do a lot at the end of the year to finish out their budgets," said Rolfstad.

He said he really isn't worried and thinks for a city the size of Williston, the rise in sales and purchases in recent years due to the oil play is incredible.

"For a city of a little over 12,000, we've actually gotten almost up there with Minot and Grand Forks due to the oil boom. Dickinson is larger than us, but we had $162 million to their $91 million," said Rolfstad.

Rolfstad said he thinks there will be fluctuations that will coincide with the ups and downs in the oil play in the region, but he predicts things will tend to stay somewhere in between the 2008 and 2009 second quarter numbers for quite some time.

Mayor Ward Koeser said he was also pleased by the recent numbers. He said they may be down from 2008, but 2008 was a record year.

"They're still very strong. I think we'll see that continue; we've said for some time we'd be tremendously impacted by oil," said Koeser.

Koeser said he also believes the numbers will move up when the third and fourth quarter reports come in.

City Auditor John Kautzman also believes the slower oil activity earlier in the year was the main reason for the decrease in taxable sales and purchases. He said he also expects a bit of a jump in numbers by the end of the year.

"From what I'm being told by the state Oil and Gas Division, we should see an increase," said Kautzman.

For the second quarter of 2009, the grand total of taxable sales and purchases for the State of North Dakota was $2,974,537,781. This was a decrease from the second quarter of 2008, when the total was $3,093,450,182. This made for a decrease of 3.84 percent from 2008.

The report featured numbers collected from the top 50 cities in North Dakota and listed total taxable sales and purchases for each county, comparing the second quarters of 2009 with 2008.

The report also featured numbers from other cities in the area:

Tioga was down to $23,630,822 of taxable sales and purchases in the second quarter, compared with $28,304,197 in 2008; a decrease of 16.51 percent.

Watford City came in with $11,742,334 in the second quarter, up 10.25 percent from the $10,650,639 it brought in the second quarter of 2008.

Up in Divide County, Crosby saw a slight gain of 3.94 percent. Crosby had a total of $2,554,254 in taxable sales and purchases compared to $2,457,463 in 2008.

Over in Mountrail County, Stanley had a big jump in the second quarter over 2008. This year, Stanley brought in $11,796,047, compared with $9,500,866 in during the same period in 2008. The jump was a massive 24.16 percent.

Also seeing an increase was New Town, rounding out the second quarter with $2,725,677. In 2008, New Town registered $2,482,703. The increase over 2008 was 9.79 percent.

To view the entire report, it is currently posted on the Office of the State Tax Commissioner Web site. To view it, visit www.nd.gov/tax.