By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
There is no need for homeowners to rush to the Overton Community Center or to wait in line at the Clark County Government building in Las Vegas tomorrow to meet a supposed June 30 property tax cap deadline. That was the message from Clark County Assessor Brianna Johnson in an online press conference held Wednesday, Jun. 29.
Johnson told reporters that some misinformation had gotten out, via social media and word of mouth, that the deadline for declaring the “tax cap” rate on their primary residences was Thursday, June 30 for the upcoming 2022-23 fiscal year. In fact, homeowners have another full year to file that declaration, she said.
“I apologize that so many people are here and thinking that tomorrow is the deadline,” Johnson said at the meeting. “That is not the case. They have up until June 30 of next year for that.”
The misinformation caused something of a panic among many Clark County homeowners. Scores of people rushed the County assessor’s office in Las Vegas, forming long queues in an attempt to file the Tax Cap form in time.
In Moapa Valley, a steady stream of people filed into the County office at the Overton Community Center on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hearing concerns that local residents would not be able to make the long journey into Las Vegas to file their forms in time, County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick sent her staffer, Amelia Smith, to Overton this week. Smith helped residents fill out the form and collected them. She then planned to file all the forms with the Assessors office in Las Vegas on Thursday.
“The Commissioner has heard the concerns of the folks out here and realized that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to make it in to Las Vegas for this,” Smith said on Wednesday morning. “A lot of people were worried about it. So she asked me to come out and help people to get the forms in on time.”
At Wednesday’s meeting, Johnson explained that property tax increases are capped yearly at 3 percent for primary residences and 8 percent for all other property types like rentals, commercial real estate, vacant land and investment properties.
A primary residence property is subject to a 3 percent tax cap year to year, unless there are any title changes to the property including a sale of the property, transfer into the name of a trust, adding the name of a co-owner and more. At that point, the higher tax cap is triggered unless a homeowner notifies the assessor’s office otherwise.
“Homeowners have always had the ability to change their tax cap throughout the entire year,” Johnson said. “By statute, yes, June 30 is the deadline. But it is the deadline for every fiscal year.”
Johnson explained that the tax cap has been in place since the 2005-06 fiscal year. Lawmakers designed the caps to prevent runaway property tax hikes during periods of rising property values. During the housing market downturn, the tax cap was kept at around 3 percent for all property types, Johnson said. There was even a point when the cap on all properties was adjusted to only 0.2 percent because the real estate market was in such decline, she said. Thus it hasn’t really been a concern for property owners.
But the upcoming fiscal year presents a very different situation. The State Department of Taxation has stated that the tax cap would return to a full 8 percent for 2022-23 fiscal year. But primary residences are still protected with the 3 percent cap.
“We just haven’t seen that in a long time because of the way the market has dipped,” Johnson said. “But the 8 percent is what it will be this year.”
“The good news is, tomorrow is not the deadline to fix that upcoming tax cap,” Johnson added. “To fix the upcoming tax cap that is 8 percent for next fiscal year, which starts next week, you have until June 30 of 2023 to correct that.”
Johnson dispelled rumors that the issue had been some kind of a glitch in the county’s system, or an inadvertent sudden change in the tax cap. Rather she insisted that it was simply misinformation being spread among the public.
Johnson explained that if there is any change in title to a property, the Assessor’s office mails a postcard requesting that the property owner provide information regarding the use of the property. It is up to the property owner to provide this information, she said.
“We never assume that it is still someone’s primary residence,” Johnson said. “The law states that the property owner has to inform us if it is their primary residence.”
For those who are unsure about how to check their property tax cap status, Johnson said homeowners should visit the county treasurer’s website at https://trweb.co.clark.nv.us/. If a property is mislabeled, the homeowner can then submit a form to the assessor’s office by mail or email.
Johnson said that her staff is working hard to meet the sudden demand. The office has created an expedited form and the staff is allowing people to fill it out and drop it in a drop box.
“They are not having to wait for our associates to try to pull up all their information,” Johnson said. “Instead they can fill it out, sign it, date it and stick it in the basket and go about their day.”
“I know that this is all very confusing,” Johnson added. “It is confusing sometimes even to me and I have been in the assessor’s office for 26 years. So I can imagine how it is for our property owners.”
