Frequently Ask Questions + Answers
(as of 8/23/07)

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Q. I'm one of the 1000 property owners who was awarded a rollback to 2002/03 land values for the 2007/08 tax year. Why is the difference between my 2006/07 and 2007/08 tax bills less than the savings I should have received because of the land value rollback?

A. Because you never saw the tax bill you would have received had the assessor's recommended land values actually been used to calculate your tax bill. Almost all Incline Village residents had their land taxable value increased by 15% for the 2007/08 tax year. Not only was this increase rejected by the County Board of Equalization (CBOE) but your value was also set back to its 2002/03 value. Had the assessor prevailed at the County Board of Equalization your tax bill would have been based upon a much higher value. You need to evaluate your savings by comparing the values on the assessment notice from December 2006/07 and your recently-received tax bill.

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Q. If we are so sure the State Board of Equalization (SBOE) will overturn the CBOE why should we keep fighting and paying lawyers?

A. The SBOE's decision is largely irrelevant. Whoever loses at the SBOE will immediately appeal it to the courts. If we want to win we have to suffer the trip through the court system. Fortunately, that is where we are enjoying success.

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Q. This fight has been going on for over four years. Will it ever stop?

A. Yes, because the necessary cases to finally decide the matter have finally made it to the Nevada Supreme Court. And those justices will not want to hear identical 2005/06, 2006/07, and 2007/08 tax cases again. The justice process is painfully slow. The first Maddox district court decision took three years. We have attacked on every front. The battle has been long and it has been expensive. But we are on the verge of complete victory. The County has run out of arguments. And while they remain evasive, the courts will reel them in.

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Q. Where are the refunds from the favorable 2006/07 CBOE decision which applied to all Incline Village and Crystal Bay property owners?

A. The County Treasurer, exceeding his authority, has declined to send us our refunds while the County Assessor appeals that decision to the SBOE. The SBOE refused to hear any evidence and attempted to send the entire case back to the CBOE, even though the CBOE which made the decision has long ago been disbanded and no additional evidence exists. The League stopped this Machiavellian move by appealing the matter to the Supreme Court, and they've stopped it dead in its tracks. While we wait for a final Supreme Court ruling the County Treasurer sits on his hands while our refunds earn 10.25% interest. Ironically, the Treasurer has sent out some 1000 property tax bills for 2007/08 based upon the amounts determined to be correct by the CBOE.

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Q. Hasn't the Douglas to Washoe County disparity been fixed now that the Department of Taxation forced Douglas to raise its assessments?

A. Not even close. The disparity has been so great that even after the Douglas County Assessor applied his law-compliant methods and raised values the gap is still huge. To make the point sledge hammer clear we can compare two Douglas County Lake Tahoe parcels to another in Washoe County. In Incline Village the owner of a 0.47 acre lakefront lot with 110 feet of frontage has been paying anywhere from $45,000 to $75,000 per year in property taxes between 2002/03 and 2007/08. In Douglas County a property recently sold for $9 million dollars that was nearly twice the size, 0.86 acres, with twice the frontage 208 feet. The owner of this Douglas property pays $26,000 per year today. The owner of a truly comparable lakefront lot in Douglas (.46 acres and 110 frontage feet) today is paying $9,900/year. Over the past 6 years the Incline Village property owner has paid some $393,200 in property tax compared to $54,168 for the same period for the comparable Douglas County lakefront owner! That's a factor of 7X more tax for Washoe County versus Douglas County. Douglas does have a 35% lower tax rate but that doesn't even come close to explaining the difference.

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