St. Mary Parish's first quarter sales and use tax collections were down about 5 percent from 2016, but the sales tax director expects the parish economy to begin recovering probably in the fourth quarter of 2017. First quarter collections totaled $8.97 million, a 5.1 percent drop from 2016’s first quarter collections of $9.45 million. Without collections due to financial audits, collections dropped 3.9 percent, according to the latest report. Collections from audits totaled $48,307 in 2017’s first quarter compared to the $170,617 in the first quarter of 2016. The first quarter saw hotel sales tax collections of $105,866, a 17 percent dip from ...