City, county taxable sales fall in first quarter of 2020
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
After posting gains in taxable sales and purchases for the past 13 straight quarters, Watford City and McKenzie County saw a slight slowdown in sales to start 2020.
According to the North Dakota Tax Department, Watford City’s sales dropped 9.13 percent in the first quarter of 2020, while McKenzie County saw a 2.29 percent decline from the same three-month period in 2019.
Watford City saw its taxable sales and purchases in January, February and March of 2020 fall to $61,766,739 compared to $67,973,585, while the county saw sales fall from $76,112,925 to $74,369,971.
In spite of the dip in sales, Watford City is still ranked eighth of the state’s largest 50 cities in terms of sales, while McKenzie County has the seventh largest sales of the state’s 53 counties.
Statewide, North Dakota’s taxable sales and purchases for the first quarter of 2020 were up nearly 3 percent with sales of $3.590 billion during the months of January, February and March of 2020.