Taxable sales show solid gains in May

Taxable sales rose 7.2 percent in May as businesses in 15 of Nevada's 17 counties reported gains during the same month last year.

Total sales statewide were $3.36 billion, with the largest increases realized by eating and drinking places, 5.5 percent, and auto dealers, 12.1 percent.

Carson City was up 10 percent for the month, but taxation officials say the gain was caused by the same thing as April's 30 percent jump - the purchase of $4 million worth of cell phone transmission equipment.

They declined to name the company, which made $16 million in equipment purchases during April.

Carson City Finance Director Nick Providenti said Carson would have been up a bit, even without that sale.

The total taxable sales reported for the capital were $63.27 million.

Motor vehicle and general merchandise sales - Carson's largest sales tax categories - were essentially flat. General merchandise managed a 3 percent increase to $10.6 million. Auto sales rose just 0.3 percent to $14.3 million.

Building material sales, meanwhile, were off 1.2 percent, while eating and drinking places rose 2.7 percent to $6.5 million.

Durable-goods wholesalers reported a 17 percent increase to $3.78 million. That category also was up statewide, by 13.6 percent.

Clark County was up 5.6 percent over May 2010, reporting $2.46 billion in sales. Washoe County saw a 4 percent increase to $442.2 million.

Lyon County, which has been down most of the year, saw a 10.8 percent increase in May, bringing that county to within 0.1 percent of the same 11 months of the 2010 fiscal year. Total sales there were $26.7 million.

Douglas County was up 4.4 percent to $41.8 million for the month.

Only Eureka and Churchill counties were down. Eureka, which is nearly 12 percent ahead of last year overall, was off 7.8 percent.

Churchill fared the worst with an 8.6 percent drop to $19.9 million. A review of the county's report didn't point to any specific single cause for the drop. Wholesale durable goods, unlike the rest of the state, were down 12.9 percent in Churchill.

Motor vehicles, building materials, general merchandise and eating and drinking places all reported single-digit declines for the month.

Storey County reported a 26.8 percent gain to $5.1 million in May. The county's largest category, wholesale durable goods, accounted for most of the increase with a 224 percent jump to $1.48 million.

Sales tax collections totaled $265.3 million, a 6.88 percent increase over May 2010. That brings total revenue collections to a 5.5 percent increase over the 11 months of the previous fiscal year.

That puts the state General Fund portion of the sales and use tax $6 million ahead of the forecast used to build the budget.