Philosopher Camus wrote “Always go too far, because that’s where you will find the truth.”
White Pine County Board of Equalization
February 17, 2017
This board meets once a year. The board members are Garey Harrison, Jolene Gardner and Larry Dunton. At today’s meeting Nichole Baldwin, Burton Hilton and myself were also present.
The meeting deals with property assessments and should be of interest to everyone. Because of possible changes and property tax rules, the next meeting should be of interest to everyone.
Discussion/Approval to officially certified the absence of appeals filed within White Pine County.
Burton Hilton “We have no appeals for this year. There were adjustments. There were some that felt their value is higher than I have it. Once I showed them all of the data and the reason why they seem to be content.”
3/0 vote to except report.
Hilton – “We physically go and do evaluate about 20% of all the properties in White Pine County. We are bringing the county into the 20th century. We are re-costing them and before we used a factor, both ways are legal. By using the factor the state would say White Pine County 3%. This means all properties that weren’t physically re-appraised that year would go up 3%. Now with re-costing we are revaluing what is on a person’s property and not using the broad number the state gives us. This leads to more fair and accurate assessments. Before there could be increases or decreases the value of the property. Most properties are checked every five years.
The question was asked – when someone buys a new piece of property are they taxed on the purchase price of the property. Hilton – “No, in Nevada there is replacement new cost less depreciation, RNCLD . We have to use Marshall and Swift Company and they determine the cost to build a similar new house today. So this is the basis of the value, then the less depreciation, which is the one and a half percent a year for 50 years. If the house is 50 years old or you get 75% in depreciation.
There is discussion in the legislator to change the system of figuring property taxes it is called SGR 13. This would change Nevada’s property tax system to a market system. I am personally against it because we have a lot of older homes and the taxes could go up three or four times what they are currently.”
Assembly Bill 43, submitted by the Nevada Association of Counties, would modify formulas used to calculate annual property tax increases and set a floor of 3 percent for annual commercial property tax increases.
The bill would not remove caps on annual increases of residential and commercial property taxes, which are set at 3 and 8 percent, respectively.
In response to a Review-Journal article about Clark County’s plan to lobby for AB43, Roberson said the bill is a “waste of time” and “has no hope” of becoming law.
“We currently have one of the lowest property taxes in the country and I want to keep it that way,” he wrote in an email to the Review-Journal. “There will be no compromise on this issue. I don’t believe there will be a single Republican in the legislature who will support AB43.”
Anderson took a softer stance.
“I’m not going to dismiss it outright. I think it’s something we need to vet and look at,” he said. “We recognize the need for some reform.”
NACO executive director Jeff Fontaine said the changes are crucial to stabilizing property tax revenue streams that local governments receive.
Formulas written in the law limited both residential and property tax rates to rising by 0.2 percent for the 2017 fiscal year in six of the state’s 16 counties, including Clark and Washoe.
“Property values are increasing, but you have virtually flat tax revenues,” Fontaine said. “It may mean that (counties) don’t hire another sheriff’s deputy to respond to public safety, it may mean that they’re not able to keep a library or recreation center open, it may mean they’re no longer able to provide meals on wheels or adult daycare.”
Democrats control both houses of the Legislature, and Fontaine is undeterred by Roberson’s resistance.
“We intend to pursue the bill and make our case before the Legislature,” he said.
Still, any bill the Legislature passes could be vetoed by Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval. He did not comment on the bill.
Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter. “Las Vegas review Journal”
Geri Wop