Carson taxable sales up 8.1 percent

Nevada businesses reported $4.55 billion in taxable sales for March, a 2.6 percent increase over the same month of 2014.

All major indicators were up except Food Services and Drinking Places. That category saw a decrease in total sales of six tenths.

In addition, 13 of Nevada’s 17 counties reported increases in total taxable sales.

Carson City did even better than the state, reporting an 8.1 percent increase to $81.3 million for the month.

But, in western Nevada, Churchill County had the top performance in March, a 30.9 percent jump to $31.96 million in taxable sales.

In Carson City, the increase was driven by a 10.3 percent increase in auto sales to $21.33 million. That offset a 3.6 percent decrease in sales by the capital’s second largest category, General Merchandise Stores, which reported $15.98 million in sales.

But other retail categories including clothing stores, sporting goods and miscellaneous retailers reported double digit increases, led by a 126 percent increase in clothing and accessories stores to $1.2 million.

In Churchill, the story was the Utilities category, which increased from just $92,663 a year ago to $8.75 million this past March.

That was partially offset by a 92 percent decrease in construction to $101,725 and a 60 percent drop by specialty trade contractors to $322,258.

Sales in Douglas County increased 24.6 percent to $63,256. Almost all of the credit goes to auto sales, which went from $2.6 million to $10.5 million.

Meanwhile, Douglas’s biggest sales tax producer, Food Services and Drinking Places, was down to just more than $11 million. That, however, is a decrease of less than a percent.

Lyon County had a strong month, up 25.7 percent to $37.1 million.

Food Services and Drinking Places contributed a 16.1 percent increase to $3.35 million and building materials a 23.7 percent increase to $3.6 million. But the biggest single increase was in Crop Production, which went from $49,201 a year ago to $1.17 million this March.

Industrial categories including Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing also saw strong increases. That category went from $703,863 to $4.28 million.

Clark County reported $3.4 billion in sales, a 2 percent increase but Washoe County did much better — a 9.8 percent increase to $609.9 million.

Finally, Storey County, driven by the Reno-Tahoe Industrial Center, reported a 21 percent increase to $11.3 million in taxable sales.