COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) -- After a record-setting April, retail sales weakened across the region slightly in May.

New state figures show taxes collected on May retail sales were up in only 55 of 83 Northeast Mississippi towns. That was down from 66 towns the prior month but on par with most of the previous year.

The only disturbing signs came in the big retail centers of Columbus, Starkville, Amory and Kosciusko, which all saw tax revenues fall below the same month last year.

Columbus was down 2.5 percent, Starkville, 5.4 percent, Kosciusko 2 percent and Amory 2 percent.

And cities like Fulton and Pontotoc that had seen double-digit gains saw much-smaller increases. Fulton's were up 3.9 percent, Pontotoc's 2.8 percent and Tupelo's 3.9 percent.