Taxable sales: Another double-digit dip in March

Carson City suffered another deep hit to its taxable sales in March.

The 24.5-percent drop compared to the same month of 2008 was much like the near 26-percent drop the capital suffered in February.

And like February, the culprit was auto sales " down 42 percent in March to $11.6 million.

While painful for what used to be Carson City's largest tax generator, that is still somewhat higher than the $9.1-million in sales reported during February.

Total taxable sales for the capital were just under $63 million in March.

Statewide, total sales fell 16.5 percent, slightly better than February's 18.8-percent drop. The total reported was $3.59 billion.

In Carson City, the numbers were helped by general merchandise stores which were off just 4 percent to under $15 million for the month. Statewide that category suffered an 11.5-percent drop.

Douglas County was feeling the same pain as the Carson City, reporting a 22-percent drop in total taxable sales to $42.7 million for the month. In Churchill County, the decline was 15 percent to $25 million, a reversal from the more than 20-percent increase in February.

In Lyon County, sales fell nearly 27 percent to $24.8 million. Throughout western Nevada, the decreases were in a wide variety of categories, clearly showing the depth of the recession.

Storey County, where monthly sales are intimately tied to the fortunes of the Reno-Tahoe Industrial Park, fell to just $3.7 million in sales, nearly 70-percent below March 2008.

Clark County was down by 14.5 percent with total sales at $2.76 billion and Washoe down 27.4 percent to $434.4 million overall.

The only county to report an increase in taxable sales for the month was Lander which saw huge increases in categories related to the mining industry including a more than 300 percent jump in machinery manufacturing and a near doubling of wholesale durable goods.

Overall, the county was up more than 23 percent to $28.5 million in March.