Nevada lawmaker takes issue with Clark County tax revenue claim

A Republican state senator said Wednesday that Clark County understated the annual growth of its property tax revenue during testimony to Nevada Legislature members.

A slideshow accompanying a presentation by County Manager Yolanda King stated property tax revenue grew 1.4 percent from fiscal year 2015-2016 to the current fiscal year. But statistics from the county’s budget show the revenue grew 4.7 percent, Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, said.

“They’ve significantly undercut that growth rate in support of a policy that undermines taxpayer protections, and I see that as a serious problem,” Kieckhefer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

On Wednesday night, King said the 1.4 percent growth rate was correct.

The county’s presentation Tuesday was to help prepare state lawmakers to discuss Assembly Bill 43, a proposal to amend the property tax cap law.

Kieckhefer said he does not support AB43, but the alleged misrepresentation — intentional or not — of revenue growth could hurt the bill.

“I certainly don’t want to assign intent because I don’t know, but this was sort of the launch point for the entire effort for their (the Nevada Association of Counties’) property tax bill. And to start that entire effort with faulty data is very disturbing,” Kieckhefer said.

The discrepancy in the revenue growth rates appears to stem from annual tax revenues the county cited during a joint meeting of the Senate Committee on Revenue and Economic Development and the Assembly Committee on Taxation.

The number for the current fiscal year was based solely on estimated property tax revenues, Kieckhefer said, while the number for the 2015-16 fiscal year appears based on property tax revenue and $8.6 million in collected penalties and interest.

King said that is incorrect.

Instead, she said, the county reduced its property tax revenue estimation for the current fiscal year by $8 million because in previous years that amount was collected and accounted for in a fund other than the general fund.

“The information presented on the slide is an accurate reflection of what the net increase in general fund property tax revenue is,” King said. “I was trying to simplify it so I could compare apples-to-apples.”

Convincing lawmakers to modify the state’s property tax cap law is a top priority for the Nevada Association of Counties, Clark County and many other local governments.

King has said a law enacted in 2005 to protect residents from ballooning property taxes has crippled county, city and school district revenue streams. Another joint meeting regarding property tax rates and revenues is scheduled for Thursday.

Amending the law has become a partisan issue in the Senate. Last month Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, a Republican, vowed that any attempt to change the law “has no hope of passing the legislature.”

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.