Tax Revolt Status Update

ALERT: #167
DATE: March 12, 2008
TO: Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Owners
FROM: Village League Tax Revolt Committee

Dear Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Taxpayers,

Following is an update on many of the issues associated with the Tax Revolt. This message is somewhat long, but we thought that all of you would appreciate knowing where we are with this huge effort and understanding the “wait and see” mode that we are in at this point in time.

State Board of Equalization
We would like to thank everyone who filed an appeal to the State Board of Equalization (SBOE) by the deadline, mandated by Nevada Statues, on Monday, March 10th. Over 900 individual appeals plus a Class Petition were processed by Attorney Suellen Fulstone, plus those appeals that were filed directly with the SBOE. Hopefully, the State will provide us with a complete list of Petitioners in the near future.

Some emails have been received questioning why individual petitions were not automatically filed by the League. Nevada Statues mandate that each petition must be completed and signed by the property owner. “Class Petitions” were also filed to the SBOE on behalf of every property owner in Incline Village and Crystal Bay. The County Board of Equalization (CBOE) had refused to hear those cases as they claimed that they did not have “jurisdiction”. Currently, the Incline Village and Crystal Bay appeals are scheduled by the SBOE to be heard toward the end of August.

Nevada Supreme Court
Many of you attended a double Supreme Court hearing in mid January. We are hoping that the Justices will issue their “written decision” on those two cases in the near future. We have to wait patiently for what we anticipate will be a favorable ruling.

The cases currently under submission at the Supreme Court are an appeal by the Assessor and the State to deny a lower court Order, (which we won), to roll-back the 2004-2005 tax years to the 2002-2003 assessed land values, and a Writ of Certiorari/Mandamus to roll- back all of the 2006-2007 Incline Village and Crystal Bay land values to their 2002-2003 assessed valuation, (which we had also previously won). Also, a 2003 case awaits a decision as to the taxpayers’ ability to appeal directly to court if constitutional rights have been affected.

If the Nevada Legislature maintains the current 3% or 8% tax cap, we will be protected from hugely escalating property tax increases for years to come.

Lower Nevada Courts
We also have multiple cases filed in the lower Nevada District Courts. The key purpose of these cases is to continue to expose the “broken tax system” and the Illegal appraisal methods that Washoe County and the State are continuing to use, in addition to getting relief for Incline Village and Crystal Bay property owners.

Some of them are:

• 2005-2006 – Three (3) cases protesting the illegal appraisal methods used in determining land valuations for 1200 Appellants; as well as, relief from the 8% factor applied to increase land assessments.
• 2006-2007 – Protesting the determination of the amount of Settlement Refunds paid to the 300 Petitioners who filed individual appeals. (The remaining 8700 Appellants are represented in one of the cases currently under submission at the Supreme Court).
• 2007-2008 – Appealing the incorrect “factor” of 15% used in the calculation of land assessment values.
• 2007-2008 – Protesting the “Settlement” valuation accepted by the SBOE.
• 2007-2008 – Civil Rights (due process) violations are highlighted. Four members of the SBOE are individually named in this case.

Other cases are also pending.

Nevada Tax Commission Regulation Hearings
The powers to be at the Nevada Tax Commission, as well as some of the appraisers at the Washoe County Assessor’s Office (you can guess which ones) are trying their best, behind the scenes, to change specific regulations to prevent areas like Incline Village and Crystal Bay from mounting major efforts to challenge their “unconstitutional & illegal” appraisal methodologies.

Les Barta, Maryanne Ingemanson and Todd Lowe have attended hearings over the last few years to “keep an eye” on attempts to circumvent our efforts in as many ways as possible. More of these hearings are scheduled in the next 4 months. We will let you know about significant events as they occur.

Tax Revolt War Chest
Overall, we believe we are winning the battle against the Washoe County Assessor and the Nevada Tax Commission, who think they can do as they please with respect to collecting our hard earned dollars and with forcing retirees out of their homes by collecting unfair and illegally determined amounts of taxes. In about two months we may be requesting additional donations. Remember, it takes a “Village” to fight this very tough war!!!

In a Wait Mode for Now
As you read the above, you will realize that we are in a wait mode on several fronts, particularly the SBOE hearings and the written decision of the Supreme Court. Our suggestion is for you all to enjoy the spring and early summer as best you can, be patient and stay tuned for our Alerts as they will be less frequent for awhile. If you think you have missed any Alerts, you can easily go back and read them all.

Just visit: www.NevadaPropertyTaxRevolt.org and click on the Alert Archive link in the navigation bar of our home page.

Thank you all for your support. We are winning one step at a time.

Sincerely,