Taxable sales improve in Churchill County

July taxable sales rose 8 percent statewide when compared to the same month of 2014 to a total of $4.33 billion.

That’s on top of last July’s 6.3 percent statewide increase.

Statewide, taxation officials say Utility Sales rose 335 percent.

Churchill County had a strong month, reporting more than a 40 percent increase in total taxable sales at $25.6 million.

The Utilities category in Churchill went from a negative $1.7 million a year ago to $114,010 in the black this July. Erasing that negative number — the county’s total taxable sales fell 26 percent in July 2014 — artificially inflating Churchill’s numbers dramatically this year.

“Taxable sales for the month of July were up 42.6 percent from the prior year as the tax abatement and corrections to Patua (geothermal) and DFA (Dairy Farmers of America plant) continue to skew the numbers,” said Comptroller Alan Kalt.

Other numbers affected by the abatements include one category that rose dramatically: Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods rose 92.8 percent from $991,680 to $1.19 million.

Kalt, though is surprised with the big jump in Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers, improving 68 percent and driving up the numbers from $2.4 million in July 2014 to $4.1 million this year.

One area that Kalt keeps an eye on is General Merchandise. During previous months, the category has remained somewhat flat, but in July it showed a 6.8 percent increase to $3.5 million. Kalt said this is a big factor considering Wal-Mart’s numbers are recorded in this category.

Food Services and Drinking Places, though, slipped 10 percent, falling to $2.4 million for a loss of about $249,000.

Kalt said Clark and Washoe counties helped the state numbers by 10 percent.

“The rural counties results trended downward,” Kalt added.

Both Clark and Washoe counties did well in July with Clark at 10.7 percent and $3.2 billion in sales and Washoe at $614.7 million.

The big dip pulling the overall increase down came from tiny Storey County, which reported a 77 percent decrease in taxable sales. Storey went from nearly $61 million a year ago to less than $14 million this July. Storey’s taxable sales in July 2014 were a huge 772 percent increase over the previous year.

Carson City did even better, reporting a 10.2 percent increase to $79.54 million, but that didn’t hold true where the Utilities category was actually down 45 percent.

Carson City’s increase this July was driven by auto sales, which rose 14.1 percent to $23.8 million, and Building Material that rose 51.7 percent to $9.88 million.

Douglas County’s sales were flat — down two-tenths from a year ago at $57.5 million. A 5.3 percent increase in the county’s largest category — Food Services and Drinking Places in the Stateline casino zone at Tahoe — was erased by a 49 percent drop in Building Material sales and an 8.4 percent decline in auto sales.

Lyon County nearly broke into double digits in July, reporting $32.6 million in sales. That’s a 9.9 percent increase from the previous July.

The big increase was in auto sales — an 82.4 percent jump to $3.78 million. In addition, Building Material sales increased 13.4 percent to $3.46 million, Gasoline Stations reported a 10.7 percent rise to $1.3 million and General Merchandise stores reported a 7.8 percent increase to just more than $3 million.

Altogether, nine of Nevada’s 17 counties were up in July.