Nevada sales hit $28.04 billion in fiscal 1998, up nearly 10 percent

Brendan Riley

Wednesday, Aug. 25, 1999 | 9:11 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Las Vegas megaresort openings helped Nevada merchants to sell more than $28 billion in goods last year - a gain of nearly 10 percent.

The sales generated $566.1 million in sales taxes for state coffers, up 10.5 percent for the fiscal year ending June 30.

That's well above a 6.9 percent growth estimate made late last year by the state Economic Forum - and higher than the forum's updated 8.7 percent projection made just a few months ago.

"The economy is doing well," state Taxation Director Dave Pursell said in releasing the sales report Tuesday. "A lot of this is tied to the megaresort boom - and we still have one more to go."

The Paris-Las Vegas, the latest in a series of giant hotel-casinos, opens next month on the Strip.

The fiscal year ended with June sales totaling $2.62 billion, up 13.5 percent over the same period a year earlier.

Bar and restaurant sales, indicators of tourist traffic, were up 15.8 percent that month. General merchandise was up 16.2 percent, clothing stores were up 7.9 percent, and auto sales were up 27.3 percent.

The state's cut of sales tax collections in June hit $53.6 million. More than a third of all state government revenues come from these taxes.

A breakdown of the June gain showed 14.7 percent growth in the populous Las Vegas area and 10.5 percent growth in the Reno area.

Merchants in Clark County, which includes the Las Vegas area, sold goods worth $1.81 billion in June. In Washoe County, encompassing the Reno-Sparks area, June sales totaled $449.9 million.

But four of the state's 15 outlying counties reported sales slumps, led by Lander County which was down 18 percent.

Besides Lander, other counties with June slumps included: Humboldt, down 10.8 percent; Pershing, down 15.7 percent; and White Pine, down 3.5 percent.

Counties with month-to-month gains, besides Washoe and Clark, included: Churchill, up 14.7 percent; Carson City, up 3.9 percent; Douglas, up 14.2 percent; Elko, up 17 percent; Esmeralda, up 32 percent; Eureka, up 102 percent; Lincoln, up 9.4 percent; Lyon, up 18.3 percent; Mineral, up 13.2 percent; Nye, up 24.8 percent; and Storey, up 14.3 percent.

The sales tax report follows a recent report on gambling revenue that shows $8.5 billion was won from gamblers in fiscal 1998-99 - a 7.9 percent gain over the previous year and the strongest growth in five years.

Sales and gambling taxes combined provide three-quarters of the money needed to run state government.