The RGJ reported today that most Washoe County property owners will pay less property tax in the year that starts July 1. In the story, Washoe County Assessor Josh Wilson said "A majority of residents will see their taxes go down…The reduction reflect[s] the area’s plunging real estate prices and record number of foreclosures.”
The county’s drop of $5 billion in assessed value equates to about $34 million less tax revenue for the county, Reno, Sparks and the school district in 2010-11.
See the whole story here: Washoe property value declines will mean lower taxes in 2011
3 comments
I welcome the lower property taxes but i guess this means more layoffs across the board in all the governments(good and bad)! By the way, has anyone noticed that the MLS has updated in the last week or is it just me?
mitch notes on his site mls issue
http://www.freenevadamove.com/
As some have noted on this blog, rising real property taxes can be a nasty byproduct of the cost of home ownership. Because NV. property tax increases are capped [at 3%/annually for primary residential housing units], lower property taxes are another reason [assuming one needs reasons] to be purchasing in a depressed marketplace.
Assessed valuations are a combination of bare land FMV, and depreciated [at the rate of 1%/year] improvement replacement costs. Since dropping property values are irrelevant insofar as depreciated improvement replacement cost assessed valuations are concerned, they only impact the bare land portion of a property’s total assessed value.
According to the Assessor the land portion of all county residential housing unit assessed valuations have dropped a good 35% from their bubble highs. So in a vacuum, a purchase today indirectly locks in a lower assessed valuation [subject of course to the potential 3% annual property tax increase cap].
However, ALL of Incline Village is subject to a recent Supreme Court decision that [hasn’t yet been implemented and] mandates that land assessed valuations be rolled back to 2002-03 levels [in my particular case, another 30% lower than today’s already reduced levels]. This represents an even greater reason [again assuming one needs reasons] to be purchasing in today’s residential Incline Village marketplace.
Since the land portion of all county residential assessed valuations can be significant, if one cares about future real property tax increases, IMO there’s a window of opportunity for new housing purchasers to “lock in” today’s depressed [at least in relation to bubble high] valuations.
Now I can already hear some of you chomping at the bit so before you jump in, I’m NOT recommending anyone purchase anything solely based upon the effect of property taxes. However if you’re creating a check list of the pros and cons to making a particular purchase, I believe the current real property tax situation she be placed into the pro column.