Bracing for property tax break pleas

By Joe Schoenmann (contact)

Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The Treasurer’s Office is often a busy corner of the Clark County Government Center.

Dutifully, people arrive with a mailed notice in one hand and a checkbook in the other to pay their property tax bills.

Some homeowners — and many corporations — take a different route.

Those with the knowledge and money appeal to have the assessed value of their properties lowered, to try to reduce their property tax bills as much as possible.

This year the Clark County Assessor’s Office expects the county’s Board of Equalization, which hears those appeals, to be very busy during its next round of meetings starting Jan. 30 and ending Feb. 27.

Why?

Because of the recession. In these rough economic times, no one wants to pay higher tax bills.

Some want to pay no taxes at all.

At a time when the county is scratching and gouging for every penny it can get — and that’s even before the state Legislature tries to drain the county coffers in the upcoming session — you can count on some pretty pitched battles for that money.

Are there requests for huge decreases in valuations?

There are. We’re talking about millions and millions of dollars.

A hint of what’s to come occurred in mid-December when the board met to hear the appeal of Palms Place Hotel and Spa.

For property tax purposes, the hotel portion of Palms Place was valued at $72 million. Very roughly, the amount of property tax the county could expect to reap from that amount is about 1 percent, or about $700,000.

Representatives of Palms Place described the hotel as a “startup operation at the moment; it’s struggling.”

“Yeah, like all the hotels are,” replied a board member.

Palms Place’s representatives wanted the board to lower the value to between $10 million and $15 million.

The board agreed to a reduced value of $15 million, meaning the county would collect roughly $150,000.

And that was it?

Not quite. The county had 10 days to decide if it wanted to appeal the decision to the Nevada Board of Equalization, which it did.

But this isn’t the only property that is likely to appeal, is it?

When asked that question, Richard Stewart, Clark County senior assessment analyst, and Irene Helling, Clark County deputy assessor, just smiled.

“The board could be busy this year,” Stewart said.

Who says the Board of Equalization is qualified to make these important decisions?

By statute, the five members of the board, who are appointed by the chairman of the county commission, must be “sufficiently experienced in business generally to be able to bring knowledge and sound judgment to the deliberations of the board.”

Are any county commissioners on the board?

State statute says public officials “may” serve on the board, but county commissioners don’t currently. But there is so much interest in what’s going on with the board, Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said in December that she wanted to try to get commissioners to sit in on the upcoming meetings.

•••

What’s this I hear about some county commissioners possibly wanting to bring cancer treatment back to University Medical Center?

Commissioner Susan Brager said last week that she wants to make sure that “no stone is left unturned” when it comes to local health care. Late last year, the county closed its outpatient oncology clinic at UMC, citing a decrease in Medicaid funding from the state.

Brager said there’s “always a possibility” that discussion could lead to bringing those services back to UMC. She wants commissioners to discuss it at an upcoming meeting.

“I don’t want people to have to go out of state for treatment,” she said.