Taxable sales: Churchill shows modest gain

Led by double-digit increases in construction, wholesale durable goods and home furnishings sales, taxable sales increased 6.2 percent statewide in November.

Total reported sales were more than $4.2 billion for the month.

Churchill County Comptroller Alan Kalt said the strong numbers in statewide taxable sales are coming from Clark and Washoe counties, which benefit the smaller counties.

Churchill County turned in a modest 2.4 percent gain with $20.9 million in taxable sales. For the fiscal year that began July 1, the county has received $105.5 million, a 6.8 percent increase. Kalt said the numbers will change.

“These numbers are misleading due to sales and tax abatements,” he said. Please note Clark County’s taxable sales are up 5.7 percent for the five-month period, and Washoe is up 9.7 percent. This is assisting Churchill County as they pay a greater percentage of the Rural Guarantee account resulting in us getting a smaller piece of a much larger pie.”

While a number of smaller categories were up, two of the larger generator — auto sales and building materials sales — were down 6.9 percent and 4.7 percent respectively. More than doubling sales in Professional/Technical Services and a 44 percent increase in furniture sales couldn’t offset those decreases.

The increase in household sales showed that 2015 was a much better year for local businesses that sell furniture in Churchill County.

Other areas showing positive results are clothing and accessory stores, up 10.3 percent to $405,069; sporting goods, up 35 percent to $171,326; and durable and nondurable goods, up 4.5 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

Long suffering Lyon County, probably the hardest hit during the recession, had a 16.1 percent increase in sales for November to $28.68 million. Elko County wasn’t far behind, reporting $126 million in sales for a 13.2 percent increase.

Lyon reported a 23.5 percent increase in wholesale durable goods to $2.25 million, a 12.5 percent increase in auto sales to $3.2 million and a 29 percent increase in the Nonstore Retail category to $1.58 million.

In Carson City, the increase was 5.5 percent with auto sales leading the way at 14.4 percent up compared to the previous November. Total auto sales in the capital topped $21.8 million.

In addition, the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services category reported a whopping 63.7 percent increase to $578,477.

But those increases were offset somewhat by a 1.6 percent dip in the capital’s second largest taxable sales generator — General Merchandise Stores. That category produced $13.6 million in sales.

It was brought down a bit more by Food Services and Drinking Places, which fell 5.2 percent to $6.9 million. The reason was the special session to approve tax breaks for Tesla occurred in November 2014.

But no county beat Storey where, with business booming at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center east of Reno, taxable sales jumped 85.5 percent to nearly $14.4 million.

Douglas County also was in the black, but by only a half percent. Total taxable sales there were $48.6 million. Douglas could have been in the red for November except the county’s largest category, Food Services and Drinking Places, was up 13.3 percent to $10.2 million. That represents primarily the hotel casinos at Stateline in south Lake Tahoe. Car sales were also up substantially to $2.5 million but that was offset by a 37 percent decrease in furniture sales and a 29 percent reduction in wholesale durable goods.