August taxable sales show jump

Churchill County was in the black with its taxable sales, but only by 3.2 percent in August.

Comptroller Alan Kalt said the year-to-date increase is up 21 percent from $39.6 million to $47.9 Million.

Kalt also said the Consolidate Tax Distribution summary for August is indicating a gradual improvement by showing $439,034 was taken in compared $434,545 a year ago.

A 17.9 percent increase in Food Services and Drinking Places was offset by a 14.8 percent decrease in auto sales, Kalt noted. Building Materials sales kept the county positive with a 27 percent increase to $1.77 million.

Wholesale Durable Goods, an indicator that usually shows positive tax numbers, increased 32 percent from one year ago to $1.32 million. Since school opened early in August, the taxable sales for clothing and supplies all came in strong. Clothing and Clothing Accessories finished at $763,683, up from $202,000 in August 2014. Sporting Goods increased 4.3 percent and General Merchandise Stores, which is anchored by Wal-Mart, came in at 4.5 percent, an increase of about $160,000.

Miscellaneous Store Retailers finished with a huge jump of 154 percent to $373,206.

Driven by Utility and Building materials sales, Carson City’s taxable sales rose 7.2 percent to $79.5 million.

That is substantially better than the 2.2 percent gain reported statewide.

The Utilities Category was up more than 67 percent to $540,282. The big gain was in building materials sales, which increased 36.6 percent to more than $8 million for the month.

In contrast, construction industry classifications statewide including building materials were actually down 25 percent.

Total state taxable sales reported for August were $4.1 billion.

Like Carson City, Washoe County had a good month, reporting an overall increase of 6.9 percent to $611.4 million.

There, the telecommunications category jumped dramatically from $5.8 million to $14.3 million — 144 percent — and Food Services and Drinking Places saw a 10.5 percent increase to $98.8 million.

Douglas County also had a 6.9 percent gain in August even though its largest tax revenue generator, Food Services and Drinking Places, was essentially flat (down a percent). But Food Manufacturing increased from just $41,558 to more than $5.6 million and auto sales increased 27.5 percent to $3.69 million.

Lyon County reported a 3.4 percent increase to $30.8 million in August.

Statewide Building Material sales were up 9.2 percent and Machinery Manufacturing up 43 percent. Most positive numbers came from outside Clark County.