Dear Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Owners,

Many of the 300 homeowners who filed their Petitions for Appeal in the 2006-2007 tax year have started receiving checks from the office of the Washoe County Treasurer. Some checks were sent to the property owners directly and some were sent to our legal representatives to be forwarded on to the recipients. We have no idea why these differentiations were made, but it really complicates our job of making sure that every one of the 300 taxpayers receives their refund.

But, there’s more! In analyzing for the accuracy of the first of the checks to which we had access, we discovered that the Treasurer had unilaterally reduced the refund amounts by the amount of the “Abatement” that was indicated on the Recipients 2006 Tax Bills. In some cases that amount was substantial.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO NOW?

For those of you who have already received refund checks or are expecting them, we are suggesting that when you cash them, you first write, “Accepted as partial payment” above your endorsement signature on the back of the check. Then, copy both the front and the back of the check for your own files.

We will be addressing this situation with our attorneys and Washoe County; however, we have no way of guaranteeing the outcome.

REAPPRAISALS ARE COMING!

The Assessor is currently doing reappraisal work for the 2008-2009 tax year in Incline Village and Crystal Bay. In fact, many property owners have seen appraisers analyzing the “view” of their home.

You do NOT have to give them access to your home. The Regulations say that they must calculate the “view”, or lack thereof, from the land. You can expect to receive the Assessor’s “Christmas postcard” in the later part of November or December stating the new assessed values for your property. Do not be surprised to see a very large taxable value increase in your assessed land values.

The Nevada Legislature enacted in 2005 the 3% tax cap for many of the residential properties; therefore, no matter how much your property’s assessment is increased, your tax liability cannot exceed the actual taxes paid in the 2006 tax year by more than 3%, provided that you have designated your property as your Nevada principal residence.

SUPREME COURT CASES?

We are still waiting, not so patiently, for rulings from the Nevada Supreme Court on the three cases that are now pending there. They are so important!!! If we receive favorable rulings, there could be more refunds for more people. In addition, we are expecting a clarification regarding the use of “factoring”, which suffers from the same problems as did the appraisal methodologies previously used by the Assessor that have already been found by the courts to be illegal and unconstitutional.

Finally, we are beginning to see some results from our five years of battling the tax bureaucracy. With your continuing support, we will soon see even more of our efforts come to fruition.

Sincerely,