Why Washoe County Assessor Bob McGowan should be fired

What has led these citizens and taxpayers to want to fire county assessor Robert McGowan?

In 2002, thousands of taxpayers were hit with huge property tax increases - in some cases as much as 375 percent in a single year! Members of a taxpayer group known as the Village League to Save Incline Assets discovered that McGowan's office had been using assessment methods which violated Nevada Tax Commission rules. After hearing about this, the Tax Commission opened the administrative process to amend the regulations which specify what methods the assessor can use to value land, and how to apply these methods.

Village League taxpayers devoted thousands of hours toward the constructive effort of changing the regulations, which involved some 30 meetings and workshops over two years. The new regulations were adopted in August of 2004. They were hailed by Senator Townsend as a laudable example of cooperation between government and the public.

The new regulations revised the methods used to assess and value land. Many methods previously used by McGowan's staff were clearly rejected, including the notorious "teardowns", in which the value of buildings and improvements is added to the land, often on mere speculation that they may someday be demolished. "Teardowns" tend to artificially produce much higher land values.

So what did McGowan do to discontinue the objectionable methods and change his assessment practices in response to the massive effort and clear mandate of the new regulations? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! NRS 360.280 requires that each assessor SHALL comply with Tax Commission regulations in all assessment practices. NRS 360.250 requires that each assessor SHALL CERTIFY UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY that he has complied with these regulations. Yet McGowan has ignored these laws and has refused to comply with the regulations or to certify his compliance. McGowan's appraisers have stated that they have their own methods and their own policies for assessment, and McGowan, himself, has adamantly refused to do ANYTHING different until he is ordered to do so by a court.

The taxpayers then complained to the taxation authorities and the courts. They were told that this matter must be resolved by the county board of equalization, because the county board is an objective body with presumed expertise to examine the facts and reach a proper conclusion. Even McGowan has repeatedly insisted that the taxpayers must appeal to the county board of equalization. So the taxpayers went before the county board and appealed the matter. Despite an overwhelming burden of proof the taxpayers prevailed, and the County Board found that THE ASSESSOR FAILED TO FOLLOW THE REGULATIONS.

Art. 10, Par. 1 of the Nevada Constitution provides for "such regulations as shall secure just taxation." When an assessor fails to comply with the regulations, it is likely to produce unreliable and inequitable assessments. McGowan's failure to comply with regulations has adversely affected thousands of taxpayers in the county. Esteemed appraisal consultant, Dr. Marvin Wolverton, recently showed that assessments in the Incline / Crystal Bay area are out of equalization, and that land there is valued nearly 70 percent HIGHER than equivalent land in the Douglas County portion of Lake Tahoe. In one striking example a lakefront property in Incline pays $70,000 in property tax, while a slightly superior property in Douglas County pays only $18,000! It is estimated that McGowan's fundamentally wrong assessment methods have resulted in excess taxation in the Incline/Crystal Bay area of more than $7,000,000 annually, totaling at least $23,000,000 to date.

McGowan could have gone to the Tax Commission and told them that he lacked adequate guidance to follow the new regulations. He did not. McGowan could have asked the Tax Commission to freeze the clearly inequitable assessments until a proper reappraisal of the entire area could be completed. He did not. McGowan could have made a small gesture of good faith by stopping some of his objectionable assessment methods. He did not.. Instead, McGowan proceeded to further increase the already inequitable assessments using the same improper methods, including "teardowns", while falsely telling the Tax Commission that he did comply with the new regulations. As a result thousands of taxpayers have a disproportionate tax burden.

In his refusal to certify and to follow regulations McGowan violates the law, undermines the authority of the Nevada Tax Commission, and denies taxpayers their constitutional rights to just taxation. When public officials ignore the law, action must be taken to assure accountability and to uphold the fundamental principles of our taxation system. Senator Townsend has stated that there must be ZERO TOLERANCE for an assessor's failure to follow the law. The taxpayers have exhausted every other available remedy to obtain justice and to persuade McGowan to follow the law. Therefore, since McGowan will not follow the law, he must be removed from office and replaced by someone who will.



Les Barta is an Incline Village resident.