Taxable sales up 5.4 percent in Carson City

Fueled by double-digit growth in Building Materials Sales and a 7 percent increase from General Merchandise Stores, Carson City reported $92.8 million in taxable sales during November.

That’s a 5.4 percent more than the same month of 2016.

Building Materials category was up 18.3 percent to $10.37 million.

But auto sales, the capital’s largest sales tax generator, grew by just 5.5 percent in November to $26.85 million. General Merchandise Stores, the second biggest category, posted a 7 percent increase to $14.6 million.

Food Services and Drinking Places also did well, up 12.3 percent to $8.75 million.

But the capital took a hard hit in the Metal Manufacturing category that fell 92 percent compared to a year earlier from $3.86 million to just $303,571.

For the fiscal year through November, Carson is up 9.9 percent to more than $475 million in taxable sales.

Statewide, taxable sales totaled $4.71 billion, a 5.9 percent gain from November 2016. Construction industry categories were up 19.7 percent as 10 of the state’s 17 counties reported increases for the month.

Churchill County reported a 15.5 percent increase to $29.8 million in November. That increase came despite a 22 percent decrease in auto sales there to just $3.4 million and a 24 percent decline in the Utilities category to $795,791.

Machinery Manufacturing more than made up those reductions, posting a 570 percent increase to $4.24 million. General Merchandise Stores helped with a 5 percent increase in sales to $4.28 million.

The overall champ in yearly gains remains Storey County where development at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center posted a 104 percent increase over November 2016 to $122.6 million.

Douglas County had a 10.6 percent increase to $59.33 million. Much of that increase came from the 9.8 percent growth in Douglas’s largest taxable sales generator, Food Services and Drinking Places — the south shore casinos at Lake Tahoe.

Washoe County saw 7.7 percent growth in November to $676.8 million. Auto Sales grew by 17.1 percent to $95.44 million and Building Materials Sales by 22 percent to $42.5 million. Food Services and Drinking Places increased by 5.1 percent to $90.4 million.

In Lyon County, building Materials Sales rose 28.5 percent to $4.1 million and auto sales by 38.5 percent to $5.7 million.

But the Wholesale Durable Goods category fell 45.6 percent to $2.6 million and Plastics and Rubber Manufacturing by 87.9 percent to just $148.038.