At a time of year associated with gift giving, St. Mary Parish sales and use tax collections delivered at the end of 2018. November and December 2018 collections “both showed a nice increase over last year,” said Jeff LaGrange, parish sales and use tax director, in an email. LaGrange anticipates that January collections from December sales, as part of the Christmas season, will be strong, too, and continue the trend of the strengthening economy, he said. The jump in recent sales tax collections is encouraging. But uncertainty exists about the overall economic outlook, because oil prices are probably going to ...