Carson down, Douglas up in taxable sales for May

Carson City's taxable sales numbers were down again in May for the 10th straight month.

The last positive showing in a year-to-year comparison was in July 2002.

May's total taxable sales were down 7.9 percent to $70.7 million. That contrasts with Douglas County, which turned in a 9.3 percent increase to $52.6 million.

That has been the trend since Wal-Mart moved its store from South Carson City to just over the Douglas County line last year. It got worse when Kmart at Carson's north end shut down because the corporation is in bankruptcy. The moves turned slightly negative showings in January through March into a 9 percent decrease in April.

The shift in shoppers shows not only in the retail sales categories but in sales by food stores, since Kmart included a grocery store and Wal-Mart added one.

For the 11 months of the fiscal year Carson is down 3.5 percent, while Douglas is up 14.6 percent.

The other beneficiary of lost business in Carson City is Lyon County, where taxable sales increased 11.4 percent in May to $24.8 million. Lyon is up 5.7 percent for the fiscal year so far.

The state as a whole did well in May, reporting a 7.8 percent increase in taxable sales -- a total of $2.9 billion. The state is up 5.3 percent to $30.7 billion with one month to report in the fiscal year.

Sales tax collections from that total increased 6.84 percent compared to May 2002 -- adding $208.4 million to the state treasury. But that is still below the projections used to build the state budget two years ago by some $27.1 million.

Unlike some earlier months this year when more than half of Nevada's counties were down, only four counties showed decreases -- Carson City, Lander, Mineral and Humboldt counties -- while seven counties showed double-digit increases for the month.

Washoe County, which has been showing only modest increases for most of the year, turned in a 9.3 percent increase for May -- $473.1 million in total taxable sales.