Taxable sales up 10% in July in Carson City

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

Carson City did even better, reporting a 10.2 percent increase to $79.54 million.

That’s on top of last July’s 6.3 percent statewide increase and the capital’s 4.7 percent gain.

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’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.

Statewide, taxation officials say Utility Sales rose 335 percent. That didn’t hold true for Carson City where the Utilities category was actually down 45 percent.

Churchill County had a strong month, reporting a 42.6 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 inflated Churchill’s numbers dramatically this year.

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.