October’s rise in the amount of sales tax revenue distributed by the state to a majority of area counties shows signs of further recovery for the economy, according to an economist.

Sales tax collections are considered a way to gauge the health of the retail sector, which accounts for about two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

“It’s a positive indication of growth in consumption spending,” said George Davis, an economist from Miami University. “What it’s missing is the business side of spending on investments and intermediate goods and labor and that sort of thing.”

The revenues of August sales tax for Butler County — based on July sales and disbursed to the county by the Ohio Department of Taxation in October — rose 5.73 percent to $2.8 million from the same time period in 2011, according to recently released reports by the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Montgomery County sales tax revenues rose from $5.5 million to $5.7 million, an 3.23 percent increase, according to the report.

Greene County collections grew nearly $59,750 to $1.9 million, a 3.4 percent increase and Miami County sales tax revenues rose $29,952 to $1.2 million, a 2.5 percent increase.

In Warren and Champaign counties, the increase was more pronounced. Sales revenue distributed to Warren County in October rose 19.3 percent to 2.63 million and Champaign County sales tax revenues rose 13.8 percent to $420,065.

Clark County dipped by only $18,948 or -1.08 percent to $1.74 million.

Year to date collections varies from modest gains of 4.1 percent in Montgomery County and 4.6 percent in Green County to as much as 10.2 percent in Champaign County and 10.1 percent in Warren County.

Sales tax revenues often make up between 40 percent and 50 percent of a county’s general fund and help to cover a variety of services.

The bulk of retail sales tax revenues typically come from big-ticket items, such as motor vehicles, Davis said.

“When we buy a car, that’s a pretty big purchase,” Davis said. “(There’s also) things like refrigerators and high-priced durable goods.”

Double digit gains in counties like Champaign and Warren Counties could be the result of high-ticket items in those areas being snapped up by people from surrounding counties.

“People aren’t only spending in their own counties,” Davis said. “If I go buy a car in Hamilton County or Warren County, it’s going to show up there. It may have to do with the ability of the stores and the retailers in an area to market their goods.”

Revenue receipts from the county permissive sales and use tax in Ohio’s 88 counties were approximately $128.7 million, while receipts from the transit tax in the state’s eight transit authorities were approximately $31.7 million for a total of $160.4 million. That’s a 3.4 percent increase over total distributions of $155.1 million for October 2011.