Churchill County takes big hit on taxable sales

Churchill County was one of nine Nevada counties that didn’t share in the wealth, reporting a 57 percent decrease in total sales in August to $21.7 million.

For the same period in 2013, Churchill County took in $50.6 million before the state made adjustments.

The biggest decrease was in the Utilities category which went from $4.27 million a year ago to just $134,681 in taxable sales this August. Several construction categories — Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction and Specialty Trade Contractors — also took a significant hit in Churchill due to tax abatements granted to alternative energy.

Also feeling the effects of tax abatements were Merchant Wholesalers for both Durable and NonDurable Goods. Durable goods fell 42.6 percent of from $1.7 million to $1 million, while Nondurable fell from $544,455 to $367,816 of 32.4 percent.

Two other categories that normally see good returns in August also endured declines. Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores suffered a 19 percent fall from $420,230 to $339,771. Building Material and Garden Equipment went from $1.7 million to $1.3 million.

Five categorizes saw a good spike in taxable sales while General Merchandise Stores had a push from August 2013 of .1 percent increase.

The categories included Food and Beverage Stores, $1.03 million, 19.2 percent; Health and Personal Care Stores, $1.1 million, 310.4 percent; Sporting Goods, Hobby, Book and Music Stores, $196,367, 1,042 percent; Amusement, Gambling and Recreation Industries, $59,657, 39;3 percent; and Food Services and Drinking Places, $2.6 million, 16.5 percent.

Neighboring Lyon County pretty much held its own in August, dipping just three tenths to $29.8 million despite a strong performance in the auto sales category — up 14.1 percent to $3.37 million.

The August report follows a 6.3 percent increase reported for July. Despite that, the General Fund portion of sales tax collections is basically flat against the projection by the Economic Forum — down by just three tenths of a percent.

Driven by double-digit increases in auto sales and food services and drinking places, Carson City reported a 12.6 percent increase in taxable sales for August.

The capital reported $74.1 million in sales.

Motor vehicle sales reached $22.6 million, a 13.6 percent jump. The Food Services and Drinking Places category was up 14.3 percent to $8.5 million.

General Merchandise Stores, Carson’s second largest taxable sales generator, was also up but by just 2.9 percent to $12.3 million.

With the Sportsman’s store up and running, that category nearly doubled in sales to $1.35 million. There were also double-digit increases in a long list of manufacturing and construction categories from metal fabrication to furniture making, chemical production and plastic/rubber products.

Douglas County too was up strongly, a 12.1 percent rise to $58.2 million. Auto sales increased 36 percent to $2.9 million, wholesale durable Goods added 33.4 percent to $3.4 million ans a number of construction categories were up as well. But Douglas didn’t get a lot of help from what are normally its two biggest tax producers. General Merchandise Stores were down 2 percent to $8.2 million and the Food Services and Drinking Places category increased just 3.2 percent to $14.5 million.

Storey County reported an 87 percent increase in taxable sales to $13.7 million. That increase undoubtedly includes the initial work on the Tesla battery plant ahead of the special legislative session in early September.

The state as a whole also had a good month, seeing total taxable sales rise 7.5 percent over the same month last year to a total of more than $4 billion. The story was in the same short list of categories led by auto sales and Food Services.

That rise was led by the 12.2 percent increase reported from Clark County, a total of just more than $3 billion in sales. Washoe County was up as well, reporting a respectable but moderate increase of 3.6 percent to $571.9 million for the month of August.

LVN Editor Steve Ranson contributed to this article.