The property tax refund disaster and proposed tax increases to pay for County's incompetence.
Guest Editorial by Gary Schmidt

The property tax refund disaster that Washoe County now faces is not a result of needlessly complex property tax law as loser DA Richard Gammick would have the public believe.

It is a direct result of an Assessor’s Office that ignored the law and crafted their own unauthorized appraisal system and the arrogance and incompetence of the D.A.’s Office and Mr. Gammick who attempted to bully the Citizen Review Panel on Property Tax Issues (the County Board of Equalization which I was a member of from 2003 through 2007) and the Courts

All the time the Board of County Commissioners either stuck their heads in the sand like ostriches ignoring the escalating issue or attempted to punish Board of Equalization members or stack the board of equalization with County “kool aid drinkers” or puppets (whish they now have accomplished as they have a complete set of County Kool Aid drinkers on the County Board of Equalization at this time).

Had the Assessor’s Office, the District Attorneys Office, or the County Commission just respected the decisions of the Board of Equalization in 2004, 2005 and 2006, which were affirmed by the District Courts, and ultimately the Supreme Court, they could have prevented all these years of needless litigation and settled the matter way back in 2005 for a couple of hundred thousand dollars. But no, they all chose to ignore the law and the Board of Equalization and the Courts and now 6 years later they have found themselves by their own hands in a real financial dilemma costing the County and ultimately the citizens of the County many millions of dollars.

I have a suggestion as to how the County ought to fund these refunds. They should be paid personally by Mr. Gammick and his merry band of minions, the County Commissioners and the employees of the Assessor’s Office. Let me also forewarn you all, none of the County Officials have learned any lessons from all this. The Assessor’s Office continues to ignore and defy the property tax laws and is still abusing the rights of property tax payers especially in Sun Valley and Rancho Haven, but also generally throughout the entire County. Additionally the drone and clones now placed on the County Board of Equalization just rubber stamp the malfeasance of the Assessors Office and the District Attorney’s Office sits silent and allows all this to transpire. We are all likely to again revisit the cost of this government arrogance and incompetence a few more years down the road.

Gary Schmidt, Former Member of the Washoe County Bard of Equalization, Long Time Community Activist, Business Operator, and Property Owner.
nobullschmidt@hotmail.com

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