Taxable sales off as car sales fall

Carson City's taxable sales fell nearly 26 percent during February from the same period in 2008, as motor vehicle sales were cut nearly in half.

Motor Vehicle Parts and Dealers, for more than a decade the Capital's largest taxable sales category, lost that status several months ago as monthly double-digit declines hit the industry. For February, the drop was 46.1 percent from 2008, from $16.9 million to $9.1 million.

But Carson Finance Director Nick Providenti said he has been advised the dealers in Carson did better in March and April.

Total taxable sales in the Capital were $48.2 million for the month " a decline of 25.8 percent from February 2008.

General Merchandise Stores, now the biggest tax generator, were also off by 9.8 percent. Total taxable sales in that category came to $10.1 million for the month. Restaurants did better, falling only 2.3 percent. He said the Legislature probably helped them avoid a deeper reduction in sales.

Carson City wasn't alone. Statewide taxable sales were off 18.9 percent for the month with total sales just topping $2.9 billion. Clark County sales were down 19.6 percent and Washoe County sales 18.4 percent. The total in Clark County was

$2.22 billion with Washoe reporting $388.6 million.

All of western Nevada suffered double digit declines. Douglas was down 25.7 percent to $38 million and Lyon 25 percent to $20.15 million.

Storey County also was down " by 58.7 percent to $3.89 million.

In all, 15 of Nevada's 17 counties reported a decrease compared to February 2008.

One of the exceptions was Churchill, up 18.8 percent to $24.76 million. The boost came from mining. The other was Lander, up 7.3 percent to $19.4 million, also because of mining related activities.

Providenti said February "kind of hurt our projections a bit." He said he is hoping Carson City will finish the fiscal year about 12 percent down but that, currently, the year to date is a bit higher than that.

He said, however, the city is still financially sound.

"We've got enough reserves and we can still meet payroll," he said.