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- December 19, 2005
- By Brad Lawrence
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Lyon County Property Taxes
With the emigration of so many people to Nevada it's been a builders heaven the past 10 years. And for the past 5 years, Northern Nevada has grown by leaps and bounds.
With so many people wanting homes it's natural that the cost of houses have skyrocketed. And for cities like Reno, where there are so many stores and casinos and available work, the cost of property tax is expected to go up. And has, dramatically.
But in the sleepy town of Fernley, where there is virtually NOTHING, it seems strange that the property tax has increased to record heights too, doesn't it?
We have no roads except a few thoroughfares, no work to speak of, no restaurants, and well, no nothing. And yet the property taxes have hit the roof, along with a few tempers I'm sure.
The problem I have with the tax is not so much the tax, but the percentage of taxes being sent to all the agencies and projects which the tax supports.
The percentage of tax is 2.8975% in Lyon County. My point is that if it was all right for the agencies to get along before with 2.8975% of a hundred thousand dollar home, why hasn't the percentage changed now that it's valued at $200,000? If there is such a population increase in Lyon County, with skads of homes and people arriving in Fernley weekly, and no appreciable increase in Fire Protection, Law Enforcement, or other services, why are they raking in the dough? Where's the MONEY?
Take, for example, the Fernley Pool. It gets a whoppping .2% of the property tax collected, the same amount it was taking in when there were only about 9000 homes in Fernley, And when they had the additional indebtedness of paying back the bond to build the place. But the bond has been paid off for a couple of years, yet they're collecting the same percentage of taxes now as when it wasn't. Plus, homes have soared in value so that the 2.8975, so that percent of taxable income must have doubled at least. So the question is, Where's the MONEY??
Yet the pool board says they have a deficit! They are as we speak asking for ANOTHER loan to be paid off by taxpayers for refurbishing the pool and building.
Lyon county property tax breaks down as follows:
.1736 North Lyon County Fire District
.1528 Fernley City (aren't we glad we incorporated?)
. 75 School General
.5867 School Debt
.1700 State of Nevada
.6188 General Fund (AKA slush fund)
.0322 Indigents
.0420 Indigents
.1000 Indigents (where the heck are all the indigents who are getting this money?)
.0100 Surplus Building
.0135 Co-Op ext. (whatever that is)
.2000 Fernley Pool!! (more than the School budget, more than the Fire Dept., heck, even more than the Slush,
er, General Fund!!)
China Lake and the Juvenile Center (bad kids) round it out to 2.8975%
So, let's take the property tax bill of 5 years ago. The tax rates were the same, but the amount of taxed properties were far less than today. Yet they survived. Now, when they have so many more homes to tax, with values in the stratosphere, the tax percentage rate has stayed the same. So they are raking in about 50% or more in tax money and where the heck is it all going?
I'd say the tax percetage should be changed to allow for the increase in monies collected and reflect the actual cost of handling government business. And the Fernley Pool should get a lot less than it's currently getting.
A recreational pool shouldn't get more than our schools, don't ya think?
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