Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.
The two days of angry public testimony on how to curb property taxes did little to clear up the issue.
Legislative leaders held two hearings last week to let the public vent -- in both Carson City and Las Vegas -- about property taxes rising so high some said they could lose their homes.
"The Legislature needs to make a change and do it right, or as I witnessed in California, the people will do it without them," Summerlin resident Gilbert Eisner, a California transplant who witnessed Proposition 13, told lawmakers at the Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas on Friday. "The state is awash in revenue, and yet we still see continuing to look for ways to institute new taxes."
Residents threatened a Nevada version of Prop. 13, which drastically slashed property taxes -- and government revenue -- in California.
Dan Roberts, editor of the senior-focused newspaper The Vegas Voice, delivered more than 2,500 signatures Friday in protest of the rising property taxes, in what he called the largest organized property tax protest in Nevada history.
"How much of an increase will owners and seniors on a fixed income be forced to pay?" Roberts asked. "The homeowner taxpayer revolt is in full force. There is nothing more frightening than angered, retired seniors on a mission."
Behind closed doors, leaders from both parties acknowledged, staff members are running their own numbers, looking to see which solution -- or combination of solutions -- will work.
The challenge is to provide residents with relief without crippling government, said Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who said he has "no idea" right now which solution will work.
Every solution opens the door to a problem, he said, adding he was allowing the tax committees to solve the issue.
"We have to be very careful. It may take a combination of the ideas," he said. "It may take a blend over a period of time."
About 150 Clark County residents gathered at the Sawyer building Friday to tell legislators how they should go about solving the problem of rising property taxes.
Some supported a 6 percent cap, while others were for a property tax freeze, and some threatened a Nevada version of California's famed Proposition 13.
Judith Ankrapp, a Sun City Summerlin resident, brought 1,200 letters to the meeting, and said she and other Sun City residents are demanding action by the Legislature.
"Seniors are seeing their retirement funds swallowed up by property taxes," Ankrapp said.
Senate Taxation Committee Chairman Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, said Sunday that the meetings underscored the importance of the issue and the Legislature's approach, with the committee having now heard more than 20 hours of testimony in five meetings.
"I think that should show how serious we are," McGinness said. "I want people to understand that we're dedicated to this."
He said public suggestions at the meetings were mostly items that had been considered before and may contribute to a possible solution.
"I think there's probably going to be some sort of a blended solution between a cap and a lowering of the rates, perhaps a freeze," McGinness said. "I think all of those are solutions we may use. We're limited somewhat because of constitutional restraints."
Friday's meeting got off to a late start because of weather and delays at McCarran International Airport slowing some legislators' arrivals. A half hour into the hearing there were only six legislators in Las Vegas hearing testimony.
Among those delayed was Assembly Growth and Infrastructure Committee Vice Chair Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, who said the Southern Nevada residential perspective was a valued addition to property tax discussions.
"I was thrilled about the turnout. It was a very articulate group," Giunchigliani said. "Everybody seemed to be pretty reasonable and to understand that we have to balance."
Giunchigliani said no solution is likely to please everybody, especially a proponent of a Prop. 13-like action.
"No matter what we do, they're probably still going to do an initiative," she said.
Giunchigliani is interested in the idea of a constitutional amendment to assess residential and commercial properties differently. But first, she said, legislators need to find a short-term fix while looking at more lasting solutions.
"Now we'll start getting into what can work," she said Sunday while on her way back north.
Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said several times last week that he envisioned some sort of "short-term relief" followed by "a long-term solution."
Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, agreed but said a temporary freeze on last year's home assessments, as proposed by Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, would hurt rural counties.
Clearly, the ultimate solution might not be simple. Andrew List, executive director of the Nevada Association of Counties, has been talking to legislators about the concerns counties, especially rural counties, have about changes in property tax law.
"The best plan out there will probably involve a combination of the proposals," List said, saying that some sort of hardship exemption, or perhaps a rolling average of property assessments over several years, would help people whose taxes are skyrocketing.
Meanwhile, several legislators said they want to look more into a constitutional amendment that could create a split roll where some properties might be taxed differently than others.
Titus said she likes an idea used in Utah in which primary residents are taxed differently than those who have a secondary home.
"A lot of those properties you're talking about are owned by people who don't even live here," she said. Davis Leonard, a Henderson retiree, said that he and many other seniors find themselves in a tough spot because of rising property taxes.
"We moved to Henderson in August of 2003 and bought a home at a modest price," Leonard said. "But now we are faced with property taxes that many families, young and old, will find devastating. It makes me wonder if Nevada is due for a Prop. 13."
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