September taxable sales up 12 percent

Carson City shared in a statewide 12 percent increase in taxable sales in September that reached a total of just over $3 billion.

Taxation Director Chuck Chinnock said that puts the entire first quarter of the fiscal year into double digits - 11.1 percent more than the first three months of the last fiscal year.

Carson City logged a 7.4 percent increase to $76.7 million for the month. But that served only to erase a 4.4 percent drop in taxable sales during August. For the quarter, the capital was up just 1.8 percent to $230.6 million.

Douglas County, where several major retailers have located in the past year, recorded a 12.7 percent increase to $65.7 million in September. For the quarter, Douglas was up 9.5 percent to $190.4 million in taxable sales.

Lyon, spurred by growth both in the Dayton corridor and the Fernley area, recorded one of the state's largest increases for September - a 24.6 percent increase to $26.9 million. Lyon is up 22.4 percent for the quarter to $80.1 million total sales.

The biggest increases were by auto dealers and gasoline sales - 16.8 percent - building materials and hardware - 23.7 percent - and wholesale trade in durable goods - a 29.2 percent increase over September of last year.

The largest increases in statewide taxable sales were realized by automotive dealers and gasoline, up 16.8 percent; eating and drinking places, up 9.8 percent; wholesale trade-durable goods, up 29.2 percent; building materials and hardware, up 23.7 percent; and home furniture and furnishings, up 22.1 percent.

Storey County, meanwhile, managed to hang in with less than a percentage point drop from September of last year at $4.3 million. The county is up 2.6 percent for the quarter to $12.4 million in sales. In addition to Storey, only Lincoln and White Pine counties were down compared to last year.

Clark County's totals were up 13.2 percent to $2.24 billion for the month and 12.7 percent to $6.64 billion for the quarter.

Washoe County reported a 7.5 percent increase to $505.3 million. Washoe's first quarter total was $1.5 billion - a 7.8 percent increase from the same period last year.

Chinnock said collections from taxable sales were up even more than sales numbers. But he said 1.2 percent of the 13.97 percent increase in collections is because the state reduced the amount of tax money business gets to keep for collecting and sending the money to the state.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said the numbers indicate Nevada's economy is recuperating, adding that could provide the state a "cushion" in case newly approved taxes don't generate as much money as projected.