Somehow, someone forgot to tell many Twin County residents and businesses that the economy was still in recession in June.

Seven of the municipalities in the Twin County area, including the five largest, all pulled in higher sales figures for June 2009 than in June 2008.

For the year, however, only two towns closed the fiscal year ahead of 2008's collections.

Calhoun City ended the 2008-2009 fiscal year with $6,000 more in sales tax returns than in 2008. The only other town to best FY 2008 was Vardaman, which finished the current fiscal year $3,500 ahead.

Calhoun City's returns in June were $2,000 of the previous June, accounting for a third of the year's increase. Vardaman was up about $150 in June.

Houston's returns in June were up almost $4,000 for the month, which cut away about a fifth of the town's tax loss for the year. For the year, Houston's coffers are $21,000 lighter from sale tax reductions.

The $2,000 Bruce gained in June over the previous June helped keep the town from matching Houston's loss, but the loss was still high. Returns there are $19,000 short of FY 2008.

A $2,000 decrease in returns to Woodland exacerbated losses there. The continued bad market for home sales and furniture pushed that town's returns down by $15,000.

Okolona's sales resulted in $2,300 more in returns for June, cutting a little more than half from the returns deficit. Okolona ended the year down about $1,600 in returns.

For the rest of the region:

- Big Creek - down $160 for the month, down $1,200 for the year.

- Derma - down $450 for the month, down $3,300 for the year.

- Houlka - up $30 for the month, down $1,800 for the year.

- Mantee - down $250 for the month, down $3,100 for the year.

- Pittsboro - up $15 for the month, down $56 for the year.

- Slate Springs - down $76 for the month, down $300 for the year.