...FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

ALERT: #128
DATE: April 2, 2007
TO: Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Owners
FROM: Village League Tax Revolt Committee

Dear Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Owners,

First, our sincere thanks to the hundreds of you who promptly responded to our request in the last Alert to sign and send in the Agent Authorization forms. Without them the County was going to deny Attorney Suellen Fulstone, who represents the Village League, the opportunity to appear before the State Board of Equalization (SBOE) to defend against the appeal by the Assessor of the Village League’s victory before the County Board of Equalization (CBOE) in March 2006.

You read that correctly! The current hearings before the SBOE are to determine whether or not to uphold the decision made last year by the 2006 CBOE, to roll-back all of the 9000 parcels in the Incline Village and Crystal Bay area to their values assessed in the tax year of 2002-2003 and issue refunds plus interest of the overpaid taxes.

It really is unbelievable, that after all of us have already paid the taxes that were ruled to be based on “illegal and unconstitutional” appraisal methods by the Nevada Supreme Court, the SBOE is now attempting to decide if they agree!

The SBOE hearings began March 26 and 27, 2007; however, no decisions are yet forthcoming, as the Board determined that they would wait to issue a ruling on the appeal by the Washoe County Assessor of our March 8, 2006 victory until after all of the Incline Village/Crystal Bay hearings for the 2006 tax year are completed on April 10, 2007.

WHAT ABOUT THIS YEAR?

None of the appeals that were filed by the Assessor against the Village League’s huge victories for 1000 Petitioners last February 21, 2007 have yet to be scheduled for hearings before the SBOE.

GOOD NEWS!

Thanks to the help of Senator Randolph Townsend, the bill that we are attempting to have the Legislature pass this session, SB 478, is having its first hearing on April 5, 2007 before the Senate Committee on Taxation.

The purpose of attempting to amend the existing statutes is to get some “teeth” into the laws. Why should the taxpayers of Nevada have to police state agencies and employees? In the 2003 Legislative session two (2) bills were passed that gave state agencies, if they were the prevailing party in a lawsuit against a member of the public, the right to have legal fees incurred by the state be paid by the defendant; however, there was no reciprocal protection for the taxpayer. The passage of SB 478 would “level the playing field”, and bring accountability to the system.

THANK YOU

We offer our most sincere thanks to all of you who sent donations with your Agent forms. I will be sending each of you a personal letter of appreciation and an acknowledgement of your generous contributions within the next week.

Meanwhile, think good thoughts for us on April 5th. Several of our members will be testifying before the Senate Committee and we will do our best to convincingly present our concerns.

Sincerely,