County taxable sales down, again

Taxable sales in Nye County continue their downward trend in December as construction of Crescent Dunes outside Tonopah is concluding.

However, key county business categories also saw declines during the big holiday month.

Taxables sales for December were $49.3 million, a 23.4 percent decline from the same month in 2013, according to recently released numbers from the state Department of Taxation.

Sales to specialty trade contractors declined 92.7 percent to $1.4 million, cutting $18 million from taxable sales.

The top sales category was general merchandise stores reporting $5.3 million, a less than 1 percent increase. Machinery manufacturing reported a 3.6 percent increase to $4.5 million, plastics and rubber products manufacturing posted $3.9 million in sales.

Restaurants and bars saw sales increase 10.1 percent to $3.5 million in December, pushing a 5.2 percent increase to $20 million between July and December.

After a few months of increases, car dealerships saw a 11.3 percent decrease to $4.4 million in December. However, category sales remain up 3 percent the first six months of the fiscal 2015 year.

County taxable sales revenue is down 29.3 percent the first six months of the 2015 fiscal year to $247.5 million.