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RE: Lyon County Property Taxes
March 14, 2006
In reading Brad Lawrence’s December 19, 2005 “The Bunker Index” article regarding tax rates, (only recently brought to my attention or I would have prepared a more timely response) I noticed that he had performed some research on taxing districts and tax rates in the Fernley area. Unfortunately, there was inaccurate information, and perhaps intentional prejudice in the article.
This letter is an attempt to provide some more accurate information and perhaps address a few of the misconceptions that were included in the Brad Lawrence’s article.
First of all, with a home going up 100% in value ($200,000 now instead of $100,000) the question was why the tax rate did not decrease, as the cost of government had not increased by 100%. I believe the question was “Where’s the MONEY?” Mr. Lawrence must not be aware that there is a statutory tax cap limiting the annual increase in the tax bill to 3% on a primary residence. If it is not a primary residence, the tax bill may not increase more than 8%. This means that for a primary residence that generates $1,000 in tax one year, the total tax bill may not be more than $1,030 the next year regardless of the increase in assessed valuation. Also, Lyon County does not reassess properties except on a five-year rotating basis, so the tax bill for four of the five years after the reassessments may actually decrease due to the depreciation in the value of the home. So to answer his question of “Where’s the MONEY?”, I believe the answer is that it is still in his pocket. Obviously, when inflation is more than 3%, the taxing entities aren’t receiving increases in tax funding in an amount to keep up with inflation.
The next question was why there was no “appreciable increase in Fire Protection, Law Enforcement, or other services?” There has been an increase in the number of personnel for all of these services in the Fernley area, even if Mr. Lawrence hasn’t noticed the increase.
The School General Fund rate is .7500 instead of .0075, the County General Fund is .6188, both of which are much higher than the Fernley Swimming Pool rate of .2000.
The next reference was to the County General Fund (in his words, “AKA slush fund”). I assume by this reference that he didn’t know what services the General Fund actually provides. This fund pays for a variety of general services (thereby the name “General”), with the majority of the funding going to pay for police protection, the dispatch center (otherwise known as 911), and judicial costs. The General Fund also pays for public health nurse activities, public libraries, the recorder, clerk and treasurer, comptroller, and assessor, to name a few. If you have ever purchased a home, you have used the services of the recorder. If you have ever voted or purchased a marriage license, you have used the services of the clerk and recorder. If you have ever checked out a book, you have used the services of the public library. I think you get the picture.
The next question is “Where the heck are all the indigents who are getting this money?” In answer to that, the majority of the funding goes for the local match to Medicare which has been mandated by the federal and state government. You should know that health care costs comprise approximately 20% of the economy of the United States. That means that one dollar out of every five goes to health care. The question of where to find these citizens may be: the elderly gentleman or lady on a fixed income; the mother, father, or single adult working in the local grocery store, bank, restaurant, school, etc. Just because they aren’t living in cardboard boxes, doesn’t mean there aren’t indigent individuals in our communities. They may be living in the next house, on the next block, or across town.
There is much more information that I could give to Mr. Lawrence in regards to various taxing districts, but attending their board meetings would probably be more informative to him.
Sincerely,
Josh Foli
Lyon County Comptroller
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