Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.
Against a background of growing concern over escalating property taxes in Clark County and calls for cuts or caps to the taxes, UNLV's Department of Public Administration will hold a conference Friday that will bring together the critical interest groups and lawmakers for a look at the issue.
Among those who were invited and are expected to attend will be about 20 legislators from around the state. The Legislature's first priority when the session begins this year is to look at the property tax issue, according to various members of the Assembly and Senate from both sides of the political spectrum.
The conference comes at a time when lawmakers and interest groups are hungry for more information about the impact both of the rising property taxes, which without legislative action could go up 20 to 50 percent or more for Clark County homeowners, and the potential remedies for the increase.
Lee Bernick, professor and chairman of UNLV's public administration department, said lawmakers and government officials from state and local governments, public employee union leaders, academic experts and others will attend the full-day conference.
While a third of Nevada's legislators are expected to attend, the conference is not open to the general public. The goal is to "encourage informed discussion and debate" on what is likely to be one of the most important policy issues this legislative session, Bernick said.
"Our goal is to try to have an educated discussion on what property taxes are and what happens with these potential reforms," he said.
Bernick, whose department if part of UNLV's Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, said new data, new insights into the issue and new proposals for controlling property taxes are likely to come from the conference.
A raft of proposals are now on the table. One proposal would limit property tax increases to 6 percent, although that would not apply to new or improved properties.
Others have proposed a total freeze on property tax increases or a solution similar to California's 1978 Proposition 13, which limited increases to 2 percent and rolled the base taxes back by several years.
Jeremy Aguero, a financial analyst with Las Vegas' Applied Analysis, estimated Monday that the 6 percent cap would trim the budget of Clark County, the school district, the library district and the county's cities by about $300 million. However, he stressed that this would not be a cut in revenue. While the cap would be at 6 percent increase for existing property, so much new and improved property is coming onto the tax roles that existing governments would still see about a 10 percent overall growth in property taxes.
"People would say the government would get 6 percent more revenue," Aguero said. "That's not the case because there's a lot of new construction out there."
That does not mean that a 6 percent cap would be palatable to all parties, including those who would like to see increases in government services.
"Would government be held harmless? It depends on what your position is. Would government be hurt comparable to what we consider more normal years (for property tax revenue increases)? The answer would be no."
Aguero said more information on how other proposals would work is needed before a full analysis can be done on the impacts to local governments.
Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said he believed the university was the best venue to debate and discuss the rising property taxes.
"I think the property taxes will be a widely debates issue at the upcoming Legislature and will likely dominate the legislative session," he said. "... Public policy will benefit from this type of discussion and debate."
Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said she saw the symposium as a way to gather a broader perspective on the property tax issue.
"The symposium is a way to take a look at some of the proposals that are out there and what has worked and what hasn't," Vilardo said. "The goal is to balance the needs of government with the needs of taxpayers."
Bernick said the forum will not advocate one policy over another.
The conference will include discussion about the prevalence of the property tax problem on the state level, whether it is a one time "blip" due to a surge in real estate or whether it is a long term problem that needs to be addressed over several Legislative sessions.
The conference will include discussion by three out-of-state tax experts.
The participants from out-of-state will include Gary Cornia, a professor of public management at Brigham Young University's George W. Romney Institute of Public Management, Andrew Reschovsky, professor of applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Robert M. LaFollette School of Public Affairs, and Howard Chernick, professor of economics at Hunter College/City University of New York.
Cornia is a former president of the National Tax Association and a member of the Utah State Tax Commission. Reschovsky served as a member of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Tax Analysis, and Chernick conducts research and advises governments on spending and taxation.
The trio all said they are still receiving information on the specific situation in Nevada and do not want to prejudge proposed remedies. However, Reschovsky and Chernick, who have worked together, have been skeptical about property tax caps in the past.
"There can be unintended consequences when a state overreacts," Chernick said.
Reschovsky also urged caution.
"One has to be very careful with caps," he said. Long-term caps, such as the one in place in California since Proposition 13 passed, can lead to inequities where the owners of mansions can pay less than their neighbors who own humble bungalows, he said.
Bernick said his department is paying for the conference with funds collected from department work and is not funded by tax dollars.
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