Sales tax collections distributed by the state in September rose in all seven counties in the greater Miami Valley, with four of the counties reporting double-digit percentage gains over the same month a year ago, according to the Montgomery County Office of Management and Budget and the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Montgomery and Greene counties registered their 28th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.

Sales tax collections are a closely watched barometer of the health of the retail sector, which accounts for about two-thirds of the U.S. economy. The increased consumer spending is also good news for county governments trying to offset crippling losses in state revenues and in property tax collections.

Montgomery County sales tax revenues — based on purchases made at Montgomery County businesses in June and disbursed by the state to the county in September — rose $131,000 from a year earlier to $6.2 million, a 2.2 percent increase. For the first eight months of the year, Montgomery County’s sales tax revenues have risen 5.5 percent to nearly $52 million.

In Greene County, sales tax collections collected in June and disbursed in September rose 3.5 percent to $2.1 million, and Warren County reported a robust 17.9 percent increase over the comparable period a year ago to more than $3.1 million. Butler County, which last month reported a 6.5 percent drop from the same period the year before, this month reported a 16.2 percent increase over the year-ago period to nearly $3.1 million.

Miami County posted a 10.3 percent gain to nearly $1.4 million, Clark County reported a 2.8 percent increase to more than $1.9 million and Champaign County saw its sales tax collections rise 15 percent to nearly $468,000 compared to the same month in 2011.

County officials say they’re dealing with reductions in revenues from the state from cuts in the Local Government Fund and a phaseout of tangible personal property taxes; a drop in property tax collections because of foreclosures and the recession; and reduced interest income from investments because of anemic interest rates. Sales taxes are an important component of county revenues, but their growth has not made up for losses in other areas, county officials say.