Property tax goes behind closed doors

Nevada's legislative leaders emerged from two hours behind closed doors Tuesday to say they're still trying for a consensus property tax plan.

Stung by criticism from the public and other legislators that they haven't been doing anything, Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, took the unusual step of announcing the "secret" meeting on the floor of the Nevada Senate.

"There have been almost as many proposals and modifications of proposals as there are legislators," he said. "And in some instances, individual legislators have submitted multiple requests to have legal opinions and fiscal impact matrixes developed as soon as possible.

"What occurred is that our legal and fiscal staff were overwhelmed with these types of requests."

Tuesday's meeting in the conference room inside the legal division was the third in a series that began with a staff review of what is legally and constitutionally possible.

In addition to Raggio, lawmakers in attendance were Legislative Commission Chairman Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, Senate Taxation Chairman Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, Assembly Speaker and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, and Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville.

Raggio said two proposals would probably emerge from the meetings for leaders to take to their respective caucuses. The objective is to develop something that shields people from property tax increases in excess of 40 percent in many areas, protects the ability of local governments to pay for vital services and treats all areas of the state fairly.

Taxes will shoot up for many homeowners because their property has been reassessed at values driven to record highs by Nevada's red-hot real estate market.

Perkins said staff still has not finished "running all the data" on what each type of fix - from a freeze to various caps to a formula based on the inflation index - would do. He said the problem is making sure the final plan doesn't have unintended consequences for schools, government or property owners.

"It's about what would be the impact on the state, the impact on the (education funding), on bonding and on the counties," Titus said.

The biggest hurdle is Nevada's constitutional requirement that any property tax be "uniform and equitable."

Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, said earlier there are a half dozen property tax plays that would fix the problem.

"The problem is none of them seem to be constitutional," he said.

Titus said in the spirit of trying for a consensus plan, she would hold off introducing her "freeze" legislation until after one more meeting later this week.

"But one more meeting is about it," she said.

Raggio said all legislators will get the chance to pursue their ideas but that all must recognize the urgency to finish some plan by the end of March.

That is the deadline imposed by county assessors and treasurers who say unless they know what the new rules are by April 1, they won't be able to implement them on this year's tax bills. Residents across the state would see their bills increase dramatically.

"It should not be an issue of who gets credit, but rather we need to reach a majority consensus in both houses of this Legislature," Raggio said.

n Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or at 687-8750.