Storey County’s October Taxable Sales Drop For 9th Straight Month

As we have been reporting for some time, the taxable sales for Storey County have been on a steady trajectory down since the boom of 2016-2017. Last year the taxable sales were down about 20%. This year they are on pace to be down 50% again. These numbers generally reflect the pace of activity at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Park (TRIC).

October represents the first month that the new zip code is in place. Storey County Officials insisted a lot of revenue escaping to neighboring Washoe County because TRIC and Lockwood both have a Sparks zip code. With TRIC having it’s own zip code, internet and other sales would be credited to Storey County. The first month of the new zip code doesn’t really look like is has made much difference. However, we will need at least six to eight months of data to get a real sense as to whether getting the zip code has generated the results County was hoping for.

The News Isn’t All Bad.

The fact that the overall taxable sales continue to nosedive is more an indication that the activity generated by Tesla is now starting to flatten out rather than the health of the county. In fact, if you look at revenues, they continue to grow. This tells us that the abatements in taxes enjoyed by Tesla and Switch are moving into the rear view mirror and the businesses that don’t rely on taxpayer support are starting to kick in.

Below is a chart that reflects actual revenue generated by the different types of taxes levied. As you can see, the growth is clear, in spite of the wild fluctuation in the sales numbers. 

As you can see, Storey County sales tax revenues are growing nicely despite the fact that the taxable sales are nosediving. In the record year of FY16-17 (when we hit $1.6 billion), shown in brick red in the chart above our revenue was significantly less that we deposited last year.

Let’s hope this trend continues, and keep an eye on the impact that changing the zip code designation out at TRIC  has. We all hope it does the trick the Storey County is hoping for.

Stay Tuned.