Churchill reports a slip in March taxable sales

Churchill reported $28.1 million in taxable sales in March, a 12 percent decrease from the same month in 2015. The culprit was the Utilities category which dropped from $8.7 million a year ago to a much more normal $961,165 this March.

Statewide, total taxable sales hit $4.69 billion in March.

Altogether, 10 of Nevada’s 17 counties reported an increase in March. Churchill, Douglas and Lyon counties were not among them.

Churchill County Comptroller Alan Kalt said the year-to-date taxable sales were up 1.3 percent from the prior year, $211 million to $213 million based on 2,372 filing locations. The monthly figure, though, fell from $31.9 million to $28.1 million.

Kalt said tax abatements for the Dairy Farmers of America project and the Patua Geothermal Plant Tax abatements significantly impacted the increase during the prior year.

According to Kalt, Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers showed an increase to $3.4 million from $2.8 million, an increase of 23.3 percent. Building Materials grew 257 percent, but Kalt said he needs to ensure the jump is not the result of an error.

General Merchandise Stores, which has produced flat numbers for the past six months, rose 16.4 percent to $4 million. Sporting Goods had a 21.9 percent jump. Kalt said he was pleased to see Food Services and Drinking Places show a strong increase from $2.5 million to $3 million for a 119.4 percent improvement.

Lyon County’s 7.8 percent decrease to $34.2 million came from several places but one of the largest was the 96 percent decrease in the Metal Product Manufacturing category from $4.28 million to $176,361. Nonmetallic Mineral Manufacturing grew more than 50 percent to $782,489.

Carson City’s taxable sales rose 7.3 percent in March and, despite the construction making life difficult for nearly a dozen downtown eateries and bars, that category reported a 6.7 percent increase for the month over 2015, a legislative year.

Carson’s Food Services and Drinking Places category reported sales of $8.79 million for the month.

Storey County, still fueled by the growth of businesses at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, reported $18.58 million in taxable sales, a 64.4 percent gain over the same month of 2015.

Douglas saw a 60 percent decrease in auto sales from $10.5 million to $4.2 million. That completely offset the 4 percent increase to $13.6 million in Douglas’s largest sales generator, Food Services and Drinking Places — the Stateline casinos at south shore — and the 16 percent increase in General Merchandise sales to $8.6 million.

Douglas reported sales of $57.2 million for the month.

Washoe County reported a 5.9 percent increase to $645.6 million and Clark County a 2.8 percent increase in taxable sales to $3.5 billion in March.