June sales up 21 percent in Carson, 7 percent statewide

Carson City saw a whopping 21.3 percent increase in sales tax numbers in June driven by double-digit increases in the capital’s three largest taxable sales categories.

The largest category, auto sales, was up 20.2 percent to $22.6 million. That was joined by a 37.5 percent increase in General Merchandise Stores to just more than $12 million in sales and a 48.6 percent rise in Building Material Sales for a total of $11.8 million. Total sales for the month were $84.3 million.

With that, Carson City closed out the 2015 Fiscal Year at 11 percent above the previous fiscal year and a total of $892.5 million in taxable sales.

Douglas County also had an excellent month and Fiscal Year. June sales there were 15.4 percent higher than June 2014 at $64.9 million. The increase was driven by a 53.6 percent increase in Food Services and Drinking Places to $17.9 million in taxable sales. That category, the county’s largest tax generator, is dependent on sales by the Stateline casinos in south Lake Tahoe.

For the Fiscal Year, Douglas finished 8.9 percent up at $599.6 million worth of sales by 3,299 businesses.

It was a strong month statewide as well. Total sales for the month were $4.44 billion, a 7 percent increase over June 2014. Total sales for the Fiscal Year were $50.3 billion, 6.1 percent more than the previous year.

The economic recovery extended to Washoe County as well. June sales were up 12.2 percent to $634.9 million and sales for the year were more than $6.8 billion, a 7 percent improvement compared to Fiscal 2014.

With the huge purchases by Tesla and the Panasonic battery plant, Storey County reported a huge 126.9 percent increase in sales for the year — some $246 million total. But the county actually finished the year with a 1.6 percent decrease in taxable sales in June — just $14.3 million.

Churchill County saw an 18.7 percent decrease in June to just more than $16 million. But for the year, the county is up 12.2 percent to $283.5 million.

Lyon County, one of the slowest to recover from the recession, reported a 5 percent gain in June to $34.8 million in sales. Even better, Lyon finished the Fiscal Year at $396.5 million total sales, 11.1 percent higher than Fiscal 2014.

Statewide, construction categories are again strong. The category reported an overall 12.2 percent increase. Even stronger were General Merchandise Stores where total taxable sales were up 54.4 percent in June. Motor Vehicle sales were up 15.9 percent in June.

Statewide gross revenue collections from sales and use taxes were $348.1 million in June, a 5.78 percent increase compared to the previous June. The state General Fund gets $87.7 million of that total.