Milk money for Churchill County turns sour

Statewide taxable sales increased 2.1 percent in May to $4.34 billion.

Carson City did even better, reporting an increase of 5.2 percent.

But the big increase was turned in by Churchill County — a 48.3 percent rise entirely because of the huge jump in the food manufacturing category.

The category went from just $30,401 in May 2014 to $22.2 million this past May. The reason: the Dairy Farmers of America processing plant opened for business in mid-April. That state of the art plant is now producing thousands of pounds of powdered milk using a high-tech process. Another project causing a rise in taxes is the Patua Geothermal Project.

That plant accounted for more than half of Churchill County’s total $42.3 million in taxable sales for the month.

But that is the good news. Because of tax abatements approved by the state of Nevada, Churchill County will not see any of that money. Neither will the state.

Although the taxable sales showed up for this year, the Nevada Department of Taxation will undertake an adjustment for both the month and fiscal year that began July 1, 2014.

Without the tax abatement from the dairy plant, county officials estimate the April taxable sales for the month would be about $20-22 million or more. June 2014 was $28.5 million.

Comptroller Alan Kalt said the increase in taxable sales for the two projects occurred during the previous fiscal year. He also said several other categories did not look accurate but did not say which ones.

One category that looked inaccurate based on previous months record, though, is in Food Services and Drinking Places, which tumbled from $2.7 million in 2014 to $548,350 three months ago.

“After we receive the June data, a formal presentation will be prepared and presented at a Board of County Commissioners meeting,” he said in a memorandum.

Kalt also pinpointed four other areas of interest: Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores jumped from $329,496 to $706,677; Food and Beverage stores fell from $1.7 million to a little more than $1 million; Clothing and Clothing Accessory stores increased 50 percent o $885,390; but General Merchandise fell 48.1 percent from $7 million to $3.6 million.

Lyon County was one of six Nevada counties reporting a decrease in total taxable sales for the month. Lyon was down eight-tenths of a percent. Food Services and Drinking Places were down 6.7 percent to $3.2 million and General Merchandise Stores off 42 percent to $3.2 million. Total sales in Lyon were $31.3 million.

Carson City’s increase came despite a nearly $4 million decrease in sales by General Merchandise Stores — the capital’s second largest sales tax generator. That category fell from $15.4 million to $11.7 million. However, auto sales were up 12.8 percent to $20.8 million and the rapidly recovering Building Materials category rose 34.8 percent to $9.6 million in sales. In addition, the capital saw an increase from $975,000 to $3.5 million in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services category.

Carson City wasn’t the only part of the state that suffered in General Merchandise sales. Statewide that category was off by 25 percent compared to May 2014. But statewide Accommodations rose nearly 36 percent for the month and Food Services and Drinking Places were up 7.3 percent.

In that area, Douglas County defied the trend, notching a 9.7 percent increase to $8.1 million by General Merchandise stores. Douglas did even better in the auto sales category: a 49.3 percent increase to $2.85 million.

But Douglas was hurt by a 48 percent decrease in Building Material sales to just $2.85 million. And the county’s biggest tax generator, Food Services and Drinking Places, was down, albeit by less than a percent, to $10.1 million.

Storey County, with major developments under way at the Reno Tahoe Industrial Complex, tripled its last May sales, jumping from $8 million to $24.5 million.

May was a pretty flat month for Clark and Washoe counties. Clark sales were $3.26 billion, a 1.9 percent rise, while Washoe increased by just nine-tenths to $564.8 million.