Taxable sales in county up nearly 10 percent in September

After a strong 2016 fiscal year, 2017 is off to a solid start as well, as September saw a 9.9 percent increase over the same month last year.

Nye County saw $50.31 million in taxable sales in September, outpacing September 2015’s $45.77 million in sales.

With September’s total, the fiscal year 2017 is outpacing 2016’s by 7.3 percent. The fiscal year, which began on July 1, has seen $140.27 million in taxable sales generated thus far, compared to the $130.71 million generated through the first three months of the last fiscal year.

Both September and the fiscal total so far are above statewide averages, as Nevada saw a 7-percent increase in taxable sales, while the first three months saw a 6.8-percent increase over the previous year.

The motor vehicle and parts dealer industry continues to see solid returns. In September, the sector brought in $7.2 million in taxable sales, an 18.3 percent increase from 2015’s $6.1 million sales.

After a rough start to the fiscal year, food services and drinking places in the county saw a 36-percent increase in taxable sales in September, bringing the fiscal year 2017 total flat compared to last year, ahead of the usually strong holiday season.

The normally strong furniture and home furnishings store sector had a tough September, generating $309,122 in sales, which was a 30.1 percent drop over last September’s $442,479.

Furniture Warehouse owner Loida Nacpil-Schulz said that it seems like things have been going up and down since June.

“It’s like one month is good and one month is not, it just kind of evened out last year after the 200 percent increase,” Nacpil-Shulz said. “It looks like it’s maintaining the course from the previous year.”

This marks the second straight month that the furniture and home furnishings sector saw a negative return, after August saw $1,039,248 in taxable sales, which was a 2.4 percent drop over August 2015’s $1,064,965.

Through the first three months, fiscal year 2017 furniture sales are outpacing last year’s by 32.6 percent.

Nacpil-Shulz explained that she doesn’t expect too much out of the holiday season, but once the beginning of the new year rolls around that will change.

“The first of the year until March, it increases because of the income tax,” she said. “That’s where you really see the change. This year so far I’ve had a nice increase in sales, but it’s not what I expected.”

The highest percent increase in September was in Storey County, who saw a 243.3 percent jump in taxable sales and the lowest performing county was Eureka, who saw a 20.6 percent decline over the same month last year.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.