Assessor works on tax cap

Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 9:11 a.m.

While working for a 6 percent cap on property tax increases in the coming year, Clark County Assessor Mark Schofield said he hopes that in future years the cap can be amended so it would apply only to owner-occupied homes.

Schofield, who presented the proposal to the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition on Thursday, said getting the cap to apply to some properties and not others would take a constitutional amendment because now the state Constitution requires all property be treated the same under the law.

Schofield said he wants the proposed change to apply only to owner-occupied residential properties because other properties are income-producing properties, such as commercial or rental properties, or vacant land purchased by land speculators.

Homeowners, however, don't generate income with their property, he said.

But Schofield said for the next few months at least his focus will be on working to get the 6 percent cap put in place for all properties.

"That is the most important," he said.

Others, including some state legislators, have joined Schofield in his call for the cap, which the assessor said is needed to head off a "tax revolt" that could come when property owners see the rapid increase in the value of their land means an equally rapid increase to their property tax bill.