September taxable sales up 7 percent statewide

Taxable sales increased 7 percent statewide in September to $4.76 billion.

Washoe County did even better with 11.4 percent increase to $705.7 million. For the quarter, Washoe is up 9 percent to a bit more than $2 billion in taxable sales.

Carson City also had a solid month, reporting $88.4 million — a 10.3 percent increase over the same month of 2015. For the first quarter of the fiscal year, Carson is up 9 percent overall with total taxable sales of $260.77 million.

The primary drivers statewide were Accomodations, which was up 73.3 percent; Furniture and Home Furnishings up 15.3 percent; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers, up 8.5 percent; and Merchant Wholesalers for durable goods, up 7.9 percent.

In other counties, Churchill County reported total sales of $25.6 million in September. That’s a 32.2 percent jump from September 2015. The Utilities category rose nearly 320 percent to $1.27 million and Specialty Trade Contractors 173 percent to $1.453 million. But as of the end of the first quarter, Churchill was up just 1.3 percent at $68.2 million.

Douglas County was essentially flat for the month at $62.5 million. That’s 1.9 percent more than a year ago. The problem was in Douglas’s biggest taxable sales generator, Food Services and Drinking Places — primarily the south shore casino resorts at Lake Tahoe. That category fell 13.5 percent to a bit under $15.4 million. Auto sales tried to help out, posting a 55 percent increase but, in Douglas, that isn’t a major category. Auto sales totaled $4.1 million in September

Lyon County had an excellent month, growing taxable sales 22.2 percent to $38.4 million.

Storey County, which depends almost entirely on sales reported at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center east of Reno, reported $65.4 million in September, a 243 percent increase over the $19 million reported a year ago.

At $3.46 billion, Clark County was up 4.7 percent for the month.

Only two of Nevada’s 17 counties reported a decrease for the month, just 4.1 percent in Humboldt County but a whopping 20.6 percent in Esmeralda. Motor vehicle sales there plummeted 64 percent to just $71,000 and wholesale durable goods 67 percent to $76,338. Total sales for Esmeralda finished the month at $1.13 million.