Nevada sales rebound

Storey County was the only exception to an otherwise profitable November for Western Nevada.

Carson City posted a 13.9 percent increase in sales tax revenue to $72.6 million for the month, Douglas County a 5.7 percent increase to $40.4 million and Washoe a 4.2 percent hike to $417.8 million.

Taxable sales by Nevada businesses increased 1.5 percent in November compared to last year.

Those numbers helped offset a poor showing in Clark County, which reported $1.79 billion in sales for November -- up just a half percent from the same month in 2000.

The biggest increases were reported by auto dealers and gas stations which reported a 17.6 percent increase for the month. Auto sales are also the largest single category in Carson City.

Construction-special trade was also up substantially -- 17.5 percent.

Other health areas of the statewide economy were general merchandise stores, which were up 6.7 percent and furniture stores which reported 9.7 percent more sales.

At the same time, revenue collections from sales and use taxes were up 2.53 percent over last year, bringing total tax collections for the first five months of the fiscal year to 2.86 percent above the same period last year.

While collections are improving, it is still just over half the amount of sales tax predicted by the Economic Forum and what the governor and Legislature used in developing the budget.