Residents of Aptos, Scotts Valley, Capitola, and Soquel have long found Lake Tahoe is a popular area for second homes. Owners of property in Incline Village and Crystal Bay during 2002-2005 may not realize that, because one of the largest property tax lawsuits in the United States, they are due a property tax refund.
Here’s the history of the case and how to get the refund.
On Oct. 21, 2019, Judge Kathleen Drakulich of the Second Judicial District Court for the State of Nevada issued an order in favor of Village League to Save Incline Assets, Inc. (“Village League”), et.al. in the case of Village League to Save Incline Assets, Inc., et.al. vs. State of Nevada, et.al., Case No. CV03-06922.
The Village League, a 501c3 nonprofit, sued in 2003 alleging the methods used by the assessor were unconstitutional. The Nevada State constitution mandates property taxes be fair and equitable, and only owners of property in Incline Village and Crystal Bay were assessed on their “view.”
The case went to the Supreme Court of Nevada. The Court ruled in favor of the Village League, and in 2011, Washoe County issued checks to property owners of record for 2002. The Village League then sued again for subsequent years: 2003-2005. It is this matter that is now being adjudicated.
The Washoe County Board of County Commissioners filed an appeal of that District Court Order and the parties were referred to the Supreme Court Settlement Program. On Oct. 5, 2020, a hearing was held by the District Court to consider the resulting settlement agreement and Judge Drakulich issued an interim order of approval for the agreement on Oct. 12, 2020.
As a result, the Washoe County Assessor’s Office has been directed to replace taxable land values for certain parcels in Incline Village and Crystal Bay billed for tax years 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06 with the 2002/03 (rollback) taxable land values, applying a factor of 1.08% to the 2002/03 values for the 2005/06 tax year only.
Owners of record for a listed property during one or more of these tax years may be eligible for refund of a resulting property tax overpayment and applicable interest. The total amount of refunds has been estimated between $47 million and $56 million.
Owners of record or their inheritors must submit a claim in order with Washoe County to receive any refund: forms.washoecounty.us/f/RefundClaim
One local property owner told the Aptos Times he didn’t submit a claim because he bought in Incline Village late in 2005, and he didn’t think the refund would amount to much. He reconsidered when he learned it was $900.
The claim process does not provide the refund amount. Therefore, the Village League created a secure lookup facility for property owners of record to obtain their estimated refund amount: nevadapropertytaxrevolt.org/?page_id=22.
Calculations of the estimate are based on data provided by the Washoe County Assessor’s office.
As of February more than two dozen Incline Village and Crystal Bay property owners of record living in Aptos, Scotts Valley, Capitola and Soquel had not yet used the Village League facility to lookup their refund amount, and likely have not claimed their refund. Refund amounts depend on the property assessed value for the period, and for second homes, generally range from a hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.
The clock is ticking.