Big drop in Reno-Sparks casino property tax values....

Big drop in Reno-Sparks casino property tax values points to need for a new tax policy
Written by Susan Voyles

Fifteen resort properties in Washoe County together are valued at $710 million for property taxes -- a loss of about half their value over four years — as their profits have shrunk or turned into losses.

It’s a dramatic piece of evidence that Nevada needs to change its tax policies, said Elliott Parker, University of Nevada economics department chairman in Reno. In all, Nevada gaming revenues have fallen hard, shrinking by 15 percent over the last four fiscal years.

“You can’t get anybody to do anything,” said Parker, who favors broadening the tax base to include services, the biggest part of the economy.

“Voters keep re-electing people who don’t do anything to fix the problem. Now that it’s here, we’re all shocked.”

The drop accounts for $7.5 million in lost property tax revenues for the county and other local entities for the new tax year from three years ago, a small piece of the overall reduction in the county’s taxable values. With the drop, the 14 casinos and CommRow’s tax bills will total $16.5 million in July.

“Nevada cannot be as dependent on a single industry for tax revenues in the future as it has been in the past,” Bill Eadington, UNR’s gaming professor, wrote in a paper last year. “Economists in the state have been warning about this for 50 years. With the Great Recession, Nevada has finally got burned.”

Reno officials, meanwhile, are haggling with Washoe County officials over a larger share of property taxes so the city’s redevelopment agency can pay $3.7 million in debt in the new tax year. County officials have conceded the agency is owed more than the $832,000 in property tax revenues received last year.

A resolution is expected by June, at the latest, said Robert Chisel, Reno finance director.

Much of the taxable value of downtown Reno is tied to its casinos, and casinos are worth only what they can earn, Eadington said. The big drop in property values is “a reflection of how tough the Reno gaming economy has been.”

Eadington estimates Reno-Sparks as well as casinos at Stateline in south Lake Tahoe have lost two-thirds of their gaming revenues in the last two decades, with Reno hit with the biggest drop in the last decade.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/J7/20120217/NEWS/302170069/Big-drop-Reno-Sparks-casino-property-tax-values-points-need-new-tax-policy?odyssey=nav%7Chead