NPTR: Alert #269: Our property taxation battle still not over plus other battles brewing!

Thu Apr 18 17:34:30 PDT 2013

OUR PROPERTY TAXATION
BATTLE STILL NOT OVER
PLUS OTHER BATTLES BREWING!

ALERT:#269
DATE:April 18, 2013
TO:Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Owners
FROM:Village League Tax Revolt Committee

Dear Incline Village & Crystal Bay Property Owners,

This Alert is for those of you who
did not see today’s Bonanza newspaper. The article below accurately reports
current efforts by the bureaucracy to increase our taxes and allow the use of
private property by the public. The Village League is joining with others,
including Nevada’s Ranchers and Farmers, to do everything possible to stop yet
another assault on our rights. 

This is truly hard to believe!

Jim Clark: Breaking Down Washoe County Assembly Bills

AB 46, which will raise Washoe
County property taxes $5 per $100 assessed valuation and increase our sales tax
rate by $0.25, passed out of committee with all Republicans voting against it
except Assemblymen Randy Kirner and Pat Hickey. One of its worst features which
would have sidestepped the 2/3 vote required by Nevada’s Constitution to raise
taxes was amended out so the measure will require a supermajority vote by both
the Assembly and Senate plus the governor’s signature to become law. A glimmer
of hope brightened when Governor Sandoval’s press secretary told reporters that
the governor “remains opposed to this bill in its current form.” Also last
Tuesday, the Washoe County GOP Executive Board voted unanimously to oppose AB
46.

Meanwhile, a really confusing bill,
AB 396, relating to public access to lands on which Nevada’s waters lay, now
looms. The language appears intended to create a right of public access to
waters and exposed lands for recreational purposes (defined as “boating,
fishing, swimming and wading”) that lie below the “ordinary high water mark” of
a body of water. “Ordinary high water mark” is not defined in the bill.

The measure goes on to provide that
owners of littoral (water-adjacent) private lands can erect fences or other
barriers (presumably at the “ordinary high water mark”) to exclude trespassers
but must provide a “ladder, gate or other device” that allows members of the
public and whatever they are floating on to get by or through the barrier.
Finally, the proposal affirms that private landowners can exclude the public
from trespassing to reach what is proposed to be public land and/or water but
only if they post 50 square inch signs every 200 lineal feet with fluorescent
orange letters saying: “no trespassing.” That would certainly spruce up
Lakeshore Blvd.

So the big question is how this
measure would work in Lake Tahoe, particularly with IVGID’s beaches. Nevada
Revised Statutes, section 321.595, states: “The boundary between the bed of
Lake Tahoe owned by the State of Nevada . . . and adjacent lands owned by
others . . . is established as a line whose elevation is 6,223 feet.” Unless
the Legislature tinkers with that provision it appears that AB 396 wouldn’t
trigger a mass public invasion at the Lake’s current level of 6,226.1. However,
over the last 20 years Lake level has varied from 6,220 to 6,229 so in drought
years there can be prime bathing beaches open to the public.

Notwithstanding the above-referenced
6,223 foot public/private boundary definition AB 396 uses the term “ordinary
high water mark” to delineate the public/private boundary. If the measure
becomes law and its definition prevails there would still be an ambiguity
because the Lake’s “high water mark” was 6,221 before the dam at Tahoe City was
built and is currently 6,229 with the dam in place. If the proposed law is
interpreted such that the latter is the “high water mark,” IVGID’s beaches
would be in immediate peril of an amphibious invasion of sun seekers.

Maryanne Ingemanson, president of
the Village League to Save Incline Assets, has learned a whole lot about
assessed valuations over the years she has shepherded the litigation against
Washoe County’s unconstitutional assessment practices. In one discussion a
deputy county assessor opined to her that if IVGID’s beaches were opened to the
public the average residential parcel would suffer a loss in value of about
$50,000.

This is worth fighting for, guys and
gals. Email your elected officials at rkirner at asm.state.nv.us and
bkieckhefer at sen.state.nv.us.

Jim
Clark is President of Republican Advocates, and has served on the Washoe County
and Nevada state GOP Central Committees. He can be reached at
tahoesbjc at aol.com.

Please
Take Action

Please take 10 minutes to email
Randy Kirner at rkirner at asm.state.nv.us and Ben Kieckhefer at bkieckhefer at sen.state.nv.us
to express your opposition to both AB46 and AB396.  We suggest you put “No on AB46 and AB396” as the email subject.  Express your opposition in just one or two short
paragraphs.  Sign with your full name
plus include your physical address.  

It
is the number of emails that count, not the length of each email message!

Thank
you again for your wonderful support.  Our collective efforts have worked in the past, unfortunately the battles
continue.

Sincerely,
Maryanne Ingemanson,President
Village League to Save Incline Assets
mingemanson at charter.net
www.NevadaPropertyTaxRevolt.org

---------------------------------

Village League to Save Incline Assets Board Members:
- Maryanne Ingemanson,President
- Dale Akers, Historian
- Les Barta,Law Research
- Wayne Fischer, Webmaster
- Todd Lowe, Financial,
- Chuck Otto, Public Relations 

Village League to Save Incline
Assets, Inc.
Non-Profit
Corporation - FEIN 88-0399029
1165 Vivian
Lane, Incline Village, NV 89451
775-831-4011, mingemanson at charter.net

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