Churchill County reported a 2.2 percent increase to $29.1 million in taxable sales for December.
Food Services and Drinking Places were up 5.9 percent and Utilities were up 6.3 percent, but General Merchandise sales dipped 7.7 percent and Electrical Equipment and Appliance Manufacturing reported a $1.6 million loss for the month.
Churchill County Comptroller Alan Kalt said the December figure for taxable sales does not reflect tax abatements from geothermal construction and production. For the year, the county is down $10,000 from the same time in 2012.
Part of the loss for the month is the county’s repayment of $1.6 million for Electric Equipment, appliance and computer Manufacturing.
Kalt said two construction projects, the Patua Geothermal Plant west of Fallon and the Dairy Farmers of America dry milk plant, are nearing completion.
Because of the warm weather late in the year, Building Material and Garden Equipment shot up 37 percent to $1.8 million.
“Food and Drink were strong for December but up only 1.6 percent for the fiscal year,” Kalt said.
As for the loss in General Merchandise, shoppers had only three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas to shop, not four weeks.
Carson City recorded a 4.6 percent increase in taxable sales, a total of $75.9 million
That is significantly better than the 1.7 percent increase recorded statewide and dramatically better than the 13.4 percent decrease Douglas County reported and the 24.4 percent decrease in Lyon for the month. Douglas had total taxable sales of just $54.29 million. Lyon’s total sales fell to just over $31 million.
Total sales for the state were just over $4.4 billion for the month led by an 11.5 percent increase in auto sales.
In the capital, auto sales mirrored the overall increase at 4.5 percent up — $18.9 million — compared to the same month a year ago. But the second biggest tax generator, General Merchandise Stores, was off seven-tenths to $16.7 million in December.
In Douglas County, General Merchandise sales increased 15.5 percent and Motor Vehicle sales by 24.5 percent.
But several other significant categories experienced deep decreases. Miscellaneous Manufacturing from nearly $5 million a year ago to under $165,000 this year while Wholesalers of durable goods saw a 50 percent drop to $2.67 million.
And the county’s largest taxable sales category, Food Services and Drinking Places — primarily the Tahoe casinos — fell 30.5 percent to $8.4 million.
In Lyon, the primary problem was in Printing and Related Support Activities, which reported a $1.4 million loss for the month
Washoe County saw a 13.1 percent increase in December, with total sales just under $624.3 million. Food Services and Drinking Places were up 7.2 percent, auto sales up 17.6 percent and Building Materials sales up 76 percent.
But that was tempered by Clark County’s increase of just 2.5 percent to $3.25 billion along with the fact that, in all, eight of Nevada’s 17 counties were down in December.