Energy abatements dog county’s taxable sales

Churchill County was up 8.8 percent for July to $24.3 million, but the spike in Nevada taxable sales for the month can be attributed to alternative energy projects, such as Patua west of Fallon near the Lyon-Churchill county line. said county officials.

Utilities purchases more than doubled to $5.47 million, making that the county’s largest sales tax generator for the month. The numbers are misleading as the Nevada Department of Taxation continues to misrepresent the numbers by not allowing for tax abatements, which the Legislature has approved for green energy operations, added county officials.

Based on the same figures from one year ago July when very little geothermal construction was occurring, the taxable sales more than doubled. The county said most of that money has reverted back to the state although no final tally has been released by the county.

Wholesale of durable goods was also strong with a 73 percent increase to $1.7 million. Churchill County is currently looking at the category to see how much taxable sales will be abated from durable goods, which are household appliances, bricks, etc. Motor Vehicle sales increased 5.7 percent to $3.1 million.

Furthermore, the county doesn’t think the beginning of sequestered budget cuts affecting federal employee furloughs made much of a dent on July’s numbers. What may be a record total for auto sales turned a good month into a great one for Carson City.

The capital posted total taxable sales of $68.9 million in July, a 7.8 percent gain from July 2012.

While most of the categories were pretty good, auto dealers racked up a total of $19.94 million, a 21 percent increase over last year.

City Finance Director Nick Providenti said anecdotally, dealers have told him August too was on a record pace, but that was before the smoke from the Rim Fire kept people indoors for more than a week. He said he doesn’t know how that will affect taxable sales for August.

Wholesale of durable goods also was strong, posting a 25.2 percent gain to more than $5 million in sales. Utilities were up just shy of 27 percent at $449,822 in sales. Building materials sales showed a 5.4 percent gain to $6.2 million.

But general merchandise stores, the city’s second biggest category, was down 1.2 percent to $11.2 million.

Douglas County also had a solid month, up 6.6 percent to $59.26 million. Wholesale of durable goods was up 33 percent there to $3.88 million. Douglas auto sales were modest compared to Carson City — up 6 percent — but general merchandise sales increased more than 18 percent to $7.9 million.

The biggest category there is food services and drinking places — primarily the Stateline casinos. They reported taxable sales of $15.67 million for July.

Lyon County reported a 12.6 percent increase in July, generating $28.88 million in taxable sales. The biggest single factor was a 147 percent increase in wholesale of durable goods — a total of $2.74 million. Auto sales helped with an 8.7 percent gain to $2.8 million, as did several manufacturing categories including Nonmetallic Mineral Manufacturing which had a 34.7 percent increase to $1.58 million.

Statewide, businesses reported a total of $3.77 billion in sales — an increase of 6.2 percent over July 2012. Across the state, there was a 20.7 percent increase in auto sales and the various construction categories turned in a 16 percent overall increase.

Overall, revenue collections totaled $293.9 million in July, a 5.8 percent increase. The General Fund portion of those collections came to $74.49 million, a 5.9 percent increase or $2.1 million below the forecast used to build the state budget.