Assemblyman seeks to end publishing of county tax rolls

CARSON CITY — Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce, as she has done for at least two other legislative sessions, said Thursday she is tired of “the enormous thing that cracks my driveway every December.”

Pierce, D-Las Vegas, was referring to the bulky Clark County property tax rolls that the Review-Journal publishes and carriers throw on driveways or doorsteps. The tax rolls weigh several pounds.

Assemblyman Paul Aizley, D-Las Vegas, asked members of the Assembly Taxation Committee, including Pierce, to approve his bill to end the requirement that the Reno Gazette-Journal and the Review-Journal publish their counties’ tax rolls — a list of thousands of names of property owners that show the assessed values of their holdings.

Pierce enthusiastically gave her support, although a formal vote was not taken.

Nevadans can use the tax rolls to compare their own property values with their neighbors’ and to file challenges if the numbers seem out of whack.

Aizley introduces the bill every session, and to this point his bills have always died, but several legislators expressed support Thursday.

Instead of “filling up landfills” with thrown-out newspapers, Aizley wants the counties to post the rolls on their assessors’ websites. He said his only goal is to save counties money during tough economic times.

The Review-Journal receives about $600,000 for publishing the tax rolls, and the Gazette-Journal is paid $36,000.

Assembly Taxation Chairwoman Irene Bustamante Adams, D-Las Vegas, took no action on the bill, although she said now might be the “transition” time to move the rolls from newspapers to the Internet.

Barry Smith, executive director of the Nevada Press Association, testified that the issue should not be “the newspaper versus the Internet” but adequately making useful information available to as many citizens as possible.

“When you cut out the newspaper, you cut out a portion of the population that doesn’t get the Internet,” said Smith, whose organizations represents newspapers throughout Nevada.

He reminded legislators of the arrest of the Los Angles assessor in December on charges he reduced property taxes for wealthy people in exchange for campaign contributions. In one case, a property owner saved $427,000.

Unlike the Internet, where assessors could change property tax values quickly, the newspaper is permanent and serves as a check and balance against fraud, Smith said.

But other witnesses pointed out newspaper circulation is dropping, while Internet use is increasing. About 70 percent of Washoe County residents and
67 percent of Clark County residents have Internet access at home.

“The issue is the declining number of people using the newspaper,” Assemblyman Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, said.

While Aizley’s bill is limited to only Clark and Washoe counties, a Carson City assessor said it should be expanded to every county in the state.

Carson City resident Ande Engleman, a former press association director, said the reason the tax rolls are published is because “assessors were giving breaks to families and friends.”

Initially the tax rolls were published as a booklet, but assessors then proposed putting the rolls in newspapers, she said.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.