Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Changes in property tax bills get mixed reviews

For questions about qualifying for the 3 percent cap on a primary residence call (702) 455-3882 or go to accessclarkcounty.com/assessor.

Homeowners receiving their property tax bills this week are seeing differences ranging from tiny savings to huge windfalls resulting from the Legislature's mandated 3 percent cap.

Henderson schoolteacher Valerie Bugni, whose bill was for slightly more than $4,470, found an almost negligible difference because tax officials say her assessed property value did not jump a whole lot.

"If I am reading my tax bill correctly, I saved a whopping $58.45," said Bugni, who shares her Grand Legacy home with her husband and four children. "For me, $58.45 equals one month of drinking venti mochas from Starbucks."

Tax Assessor Mark Schofield says Bugni is accurately reading her bill. But he notes that her property was assessed at a 9 percent increase, not the double-digit hike of some properties.

"Had her land value increased, let's say, 50 percent -- and had there been no cap -- her property tax bill would have been $6,186," Schofield said, noting in some cases there were assessed value increases as high as 80 percent.

"The majority of the relief has been to middle class homes. But they (assessed values) vary throughout the valley. However, at least 97 percent of the single-family homes in Clark County exceeded 6 percent."

Schofield said for some single-family homes the savings could be "30 percent to 50 percent" over what the taxes could have been if the cap had not been put in place by the 2005 Legislature.

The Legislature responded to skyrocketing home values and concerns of a corresponding tax increase.

Assembly Bill 489, signed into law on April 6, caps the increase on homeowners' property tax bills at 3 percent. An 8 percent cap is applied to residences that are not owner occupied, as well as for commercial buildings.

Bugni said she is not complaining about either her seemingly hefty taxes or the insignificant savings she received.

"It's OK," she said. "I feel if I am going to live in a beautiful home, I have to pay my fair share. I'm OK with it as long as the money is spent on needed public services."

Meanwhile, others in neighborhoods pretty close to Bugni's home are saving a bundle on their property taxes this year.

Schofield noted that one home at Green Valley Ranch got slapped with a 68 percent increase. The 3 percent cap there represented a savings of $1,851 to that homeowner, he said.

One house in a neighborhood in Mesquite would have gone up 20 percent. With a 3 percent cap, however, the $1,869 bill that homeowner received represented a savings of $389, Schofield said.

According to the treasurer's office, 619,825 property tax bills have been sent out. Whether the majority of homeowners understand the property tax cap will become apparent in the coming weeks. Schofield is expecting at least 1,500 to 2,000 additional calls per day to his office.

"Some people probably are expecting something more akin to the 1981 (legislative) session where property taxes were reduced," Nevada Taxpayers Association President Carole Vilardo said.

"But what you have here is relief from what could have been double-digit increases because of the change in assessed values."

Vilardo said the $300 million rebate of 2004 car registration payments made to the Department of Motor Vehicles, also authorized by the 2005 Legislature, might be better received than the tax cap even though some refund checks will be for the minimum -- $75.

"I think when you go to do a story on the rebate, you will get a more positive reaction because it will be money in the hand, even if the amount of that check is less than the property tax cap savings," she said.

Schofield said that, of the property tax bills sent out, 330,192 went to homeowners who qualified for the 3 percent cap on primary dwellings.

Another 19,167 also qualified for the 3 percent cap as owners of rental units who charge tenants below the federal standard for median income, he said. In Clark County, that is $499 a month for a studio, $580 for a one-bedroom, $681 for a two-bedroom, $927 for a three-bedroom and $273 for a mobile home space.

Another 270,466 bills were for the 8 percent property tax cap for businesses and secondary residences, Schofield said.

The treasurer's office plans to send out a total 625,000 to 627,000 property tax bills, and has until Dec. 15 to do so. The yet-to-be-sent bills primarily are for new construction for which the assessor has not yet placed a value, Schofield said.

Both Schofield and Vilardo say they do not believe the tax cap will stop efforts to pass in 2006 a wide-sweeping property tax reform similar to Proposition 13 in California.

That initiative was passed by a nearly two-thirds majority of the California Legislature in 1978. Prop 13 rolled taxes back to 1976 levels and limited property value growth to 2 percent a year until the property was sold.

Schofield said Clark County homeowners who did not file by the June 10 deadline to let the government know that their property was a primary residence can still apply to get a revised bill with the 3 percent cap.

"All homeowners have to do is contact our office and we will send them a new postcard to declare their primary dwelling," he said. "When they return it it will trigger a new bill (with the 3 percent cap from the treasurer's office)."

For homeowners who cannot afford to pay the entire amount even with the cap, Schofield strongly urges them to make at least the first quarterly installment, which is due Aug. 15, to prevent delinquency.

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