County officials ask relief from state demands on property tax cap

The testimony Thursday came as the Assembly Taxation Committee reviewed a bill that would partially lift the $3.64 per $100 of assessed valuation limit on property taxes in Nevada.

That limit was set in the 1979 and 1981 legislative sessions and lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, have strongly resisted attempts to let any county charge more.

SB476 would lift that cap to compensate for the amount of property taxes the state has imposed.

Mary Walker, representing Carson City, Douglas and Lyon counties, told the committee lawmakers promised when they imposed that cap 20 years ago that the state would "stay out of property taxes."

That included 50 cents on the tax rate for operation of public schools. But since then, she pointed out, the state has imposed an additional 25 cents for schools and 15 cents to retire state bonding debts.

"Our tax rate has gone down," she said. "The tax available to the local governments isn't $3.64; it's $2.74."

Nevada Association of Counties director Bob Hadfield said the problem is especially acute in small counties which are at or very near the tax cap. He said they have no other way to raise money for needed services since their sales tax base is small and property values are stagnant or declining.

SB476 would allow seven counties to discount the 25-cent state levy for schools and the 15-cent state levy for its own bonds. Those counties are Elko, Lander, Lincoln, Mineral, Nye, Pershing and White Pine.

Consultant and former Clark County Finance Director Guy Hobbs said that's an effective tax rate of $4.04 - but it really gives the small counties tax money they were promised when the tax shift laws were enacted.

He said other counties could join in if they were pushed to the cap by increases in state bonding or other property tax levies.

But Lucille Lusk of Nevada Concerned Citizens said she was concerned the bill would "open the floodgates" to removing that cap and increasing property taxes statewide. She was joined by Assemblyman Harry Mortensen, D-Las Vegas, who said he worries SB476 is a "foot in the door."

archive