Seniors plan protest of rising property taxes

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 | 11:01 a.m.

Hundreds of seniors plan to file appeals with the Clark County Assessor's Office as a protest against rising property tax bills.

Dan Roberts, publisher of Vegas Voice, formerly Las Vegas Senior Life, said that as of today he had received nearly 600 petitions to appeal the property tax values assessed by the Clark County office. Roberts published a petition in his publication, which targets older homeowners in age-restricted communities throughout the county.

Roberts said he anticipates more than 1,000 petitions for appeals before the Tuesday deadline to file. Last year, the Clark County Assessor received 776 appeals, and the office had received about 350 appeals today.

The motivation for the action is the rise in property tax bills, up an average of 35 percent from last year. Some areas and homeowners have seen higher increases. Roberts said seniors in Sun City Summerlin, Sun City Anthem, Sun City Aliante and Sun City McDonald Ranch have seen an increase of 45 to 50 percent, an increase that would typically equal hundreds of dollars.

"We are helping seniors file petitions for the county assessor on the property tax issue," Roberts said. "We have to do something."

He said the appeals might not overturn any of the values or bills that the seniors eventually pay, but will draw attention to the issue.

"The grounds for the appeals is that the taxes are too high," Roberts said."They're too high and unfair and we want a hearing on every single one. This is really an attempt by any homeowner who is just outraged over the tax increase. It's a protest.

"Maybe if the state legislators saw the county assessor is being buried by all these appeals, they will know they have to do something."

"Something" is definitely on the table for the Legislature, which begins meeting this month on the property tax issue. The remedy, however, is far from clear.

Legislators in both the Assembly and Senate have proposed everything from a 6 percent cap on property tax increases, a level which officials say essentially mirrors the growth in demands on government services, to a cap of 2 percent or less coupled with a rollback of several years, a remedy which analysts say will require cuts in local and state governments.

Other suggestions include a simple freeze in property tax bills or expanded relief programs for senior citizens. All of the proposals floated so far face potential constitutional hurdles as well as the political process in Carson City.

Assessors for Nevada's counties say a remedy has to be in place by the end of March to impact the tax bills which are sent out in July.

The appeals that Roberts is preparing will go to Assessor Mark Schofield, who said he has the right to reject the appeal petitions because they are not identical to the petitions sent out and accepted by his office.

Schofield said, however, that his staff will transfer the information from Roberts' petitions to the assessor's appeal forms.

"It would be foolish for us not to," Schofield said. "We'll do all that work.

"We don't want anyone to have their rights infringed upon."

Schofield said any property owner can petition for an appeal, but the assessor's staff is constrained by state law in what it can do. The Legislature sets the property tax rates, the formula for establishing land and property values and the system for computing tax bills. The assessors have to comply with state laws even when property tax bills are going up, he added.

The appeal process usually includes a meeting with a member of the assessor's staff, then a hearing before the Clark County Board of Equalization -- a board which begins meeting Friday.

If the hearing goes against the property owner, the owner can take the appeal to the state Board of Equalization. The final step would be to take the issue to the courts.

Throughout the process, however, appeals aren't won simply because the property owner is unhappy with the bill, Schofield said.

"We can't reduce it just because it reduces property taxes," he said.

Schofield said he has talked to Roberts and appreciates the reasoning behind the appeal and is ready for the flood of petitions.

Schofield was one of the first to warn that skyrocketing property values in Clark County would also bring sharply higher property taxes. He was also one of the first to suggest a 6 percent cap on the increases.

He said protest appeals might work to heighten the concern of legislators meeting in Carson City. The office is ready for a potential flood of hundreds of additional appeals this year, Schofield said.

"We've been preparing for this."