Assessor's case goes to high court

A malfeasance hearing which could result in whether Washoe County Assessor Robert McGowan keeps his job was postponed Monday as the Nevada Supreme Court reviews the validity of the case.

The Washoe County District Attorney's office requested the charges, brought forth by The Village League to Save Incline Assets on Oct. 5, be reviewed and/or dismissed by the state supreme court Monday.

The result is McGowan's hearing, originally scheduled for today, will be on hold indefinitely until the county hears back from the court.

District attorney's office representatives said they deferred to the higher court as a matter of procedure.

"The supreme court has said the proper avenue used is through their court, through a writ of prohibition," said Deputy District Attorney Brian Brown. "The supreme court can deny the petitioners' claims altogether, they can say they will hear the matter or they can respond to or hear part of the writ."

The Village League to Save Incline Assets filed five separate complaints of malfeasance against McGowan. The most egregious was that McGowan ignored new tax rules in assessing property values in 2004, the group's Reno-based attorney Tom Hall said.

In a previous interview, McGowan said he "stands by his record" and felt it was the group's right to "try to change the amount they pay" but his office is "not the legislature."

League to Save Incline Assets president Maryanne Ingemanson said McGowan is only looking for a way to delay the trial - one which the county should not be representing him in the first place.

"We agreed to a stay," Ingemanson said. "However, during that period of time we could continue to go forward with depositions and discovery - to help us better understand what's going on.

"That being said, McGowan, not the county, is personally being sued. This is a personal lawsuit for dereliction of duty. He was not doing what the county ordered him to do or mandated - it's a fine point but a big point. Therefore McGowan shouldn't have the access to the services of the county District Attorney."

While the DA's office did not want to get into a verbal "back-and-forth" with the Incline group, it did stick by the decision to defend McGowan as an employee.

"The under NRS chapter 41 the district attorney is compelled by statute to represent all county employees in a civil action pursuant to any action done on the job - that's what this is," Brown said.

Both sides said they feel the supreme court should come down with some kind of decision within the next 30 days.

"We feel it's on a very fast track," Ingemanson said. "This is helpful for us. So many of these cases we have pending have been heard, but the judges take them into submission and haven't made a decision."

In February the Washoe Board of Equalization voted unanimously to lift the 8 percent addition to the land tax assessment for all of the mass appellants, and it voted county assessors were not using the new assessment rules and regulations.

However, in early August that decision was partially overridden by the Nevada Board of Equalization. The 8 percent decrease was repealed.

The assessor did not appeal the decision by the board of equalization at the state level that the rules and regulations had not been followed.

"I imagine the supreme court will decide on these matters and we'll know whether there'll be a hearing - or the nature of it- pretty rapidly," Brown said.



Bonanza's news editor Andrew Pridgen can be reached at apridgen@tahoebonanza.com.