Clark County rings up record May taxable sales

Clark County’s taxable sales blew past pre-recession levels in May to hit an all-time high for the month.

Businesses in Clark County sold $3.2 billion of goods in the month, up 12.7 percent from $2.8 billion in May 2013, the state Department of Taxation reported Wednesday. That spending also bested the previous May high of $3.17 billion, reached in May 2006.

Broad improvements in categories ranging from construction to meals out spurred May’s gains.

“The relatively strong growth, combined with a wide range of key contributors, suggests increased stability overall in consumer and business spending activity, suggesting that the economy is on more solid footing than it was one, two or three years ago,” said Brian Gordon, a principal in local research firm Applied Analysis.

Statewide sales were up as well, jumping 8 percent to $4.3 billion.

Clark County’s biggest sales increase was in the general-merchandise category, which includes department stores. The sector posted a spike of 36.5 percent, or $90.6 million, to $338.7 million.

Other spending categories with notable improvements included dealers of cars and car parts, which saw a gain of 13.4 percent, or $44.2 million, and merchant wholesalers of durable goods such as office equipment, which saw sales grow 19.3 percent, or $27 million.

Consumers seemed to invest in home upgrades as well, with categories including furniture, appliances and garden and building supplies combining to grow by $12 million year over year.

The county’s biggest spending sector — bars and restaurants, with nearly 27 percent of all spending — grew by 6.6 percent, adding about $54 million to a base of $861.2 million.

And thanks to a retail, entertainment and hotel-renovation boom on the Strip, construction-related spending improved by nearly 45 percent, jumping $16.6 million to $54 million year over year.

Gordon traced the improvements to factors ranging from job growth — Nevada’s job-formation rate of more than 3 percent is now second only to North Dakota’s — and improvements in home prices, which mean consumers have more home equity. Even population growth has played a factor: Clark County has 2.1 million residents, up from 1.9 million in 2006, Gordon said.

“Those factors not only provide fundamental improvements in the economy, they also provide improved perceptions about the economy,” he said. “All of that has led to growth in spending activity. The numbers demonstrate that we continue to move farther from the depths of the recession, and residents and businesses are looking to take advantage of opportunities in the market as opposed to protecting themselves, which they worried more about in the past.”

Despite the sales high, don’t call us recovered yet. Some key spending drivers are still flashing warning signs. The share of local homeowners owing more on their homes than their mortgage is worth still runs more than 30 percent, and the unemployment rate continues to hover near 8 percent, well above a national average of 6.1 percent.

Still, the state is receiving a boost revenue-wise. Gross revenue collections from sales and use taxes were more than $329.4 million, a 6.9 percent increase compared to May 2013. The General Fund portion of the sales and use taxes was $83.2 million, up 6.5 percent from a year earlier.

The General Fund contribution for fiscal 2014 is 0.5 percent, or $4.3 million, below projections of the Economic Forum, a nonpartisan group that forecasts revenue for state budgets.

Sales and use taxes fund prisons and schools, among other public services.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.