Sales tax collections distributed by the state in August rose in six out of seven counties in southwest and west-central Ohio, and registered the 27th consecutive month of year-over-year gains in Montgomery and Greene counties, according to the Montgomery County Office of Management and Budget and the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Sales tax collections are considered a barometer of the health of the retail sector, which accounts for about two-thirds of the U.S. economy. The willingness of consumers to make purchases is good news for manufacturers and distributors as well as retailers, and it also benefits county governments that are trying to offset losses in state revenues and property taxes.

Montgomery County sales tax revenues — based on purchases made at Montgomery County businesses in May and disbursed by the state to the county in August — rose $269,000 from a year earlier to $5.6 million, a 5.1 percent increase. For the first eight months of the year, Montgomery County’s sales tax revenues have risen 6 percent to nearly $46 million.

Elsewhere across the Miami Valley, Greene County sales tax collections rose 1.7 percent to $1.8 million, and Warren County reported a robust 9.7 percent increase over the comparable period a year ago to more than $2.6 million.

Butler County, which last month reported a 24.1 percent increase, this month reported a 6.5 percent loss over the year-ago period to nearly $2.4 million.

Miami County collections rose 1.6 percent to $1.2 million, while Clark County also recorded its second consecutive month of double-digit increases with a 10.7 percent jump to more than $1.8 million.

Champaign County’s sales tax collections leaped 26 percent to $436,000.

Clark County Administrator Nathan Kennedy said every county’s general fund is dependent largely on sales tax revenues, which have helped to offset losses from cuts in the state’s Local Government Fund and in public-defender reimbursements. Kennedy said his county’s second consecutive double-digit increase in sales tax revenues came as a bit of a surprise, and suggests that Clark County shoppers are avoiding high gas prices by buying merchandise closer to home.