CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) " The Senate Taxation Committee heard a bill Thursday that would let officials around Nevada publish an annual list of property taxpayers and their property values on an Internet Web site rather than in local newspapers.
AB307 started out as a proposal that would apply only in Washoe and Clark counties, Nevada's population centers, but was amended to include all counties.
Assemblyman Paul Aizley, D-Las Vegas sponsored the bill, saying it makes more sense to publish public notices on the Internet.
"These days, there's nearly universal access to the Internet either in peoples' homes or in public libraries, so requiring to make the tax rolls available in print is redundant due to the Internet," Aizley said. "These are very tough economic times. All levels of government are cutting their budgets."
Aizley said that Clark County spends over $500,000 a year to print property tax rolls in the newspaper. Washoe County spends about $70,000 a year. He added that money and paper could be saved by allowing jurisdictions to publish information on their Web sites.
"I don't know if any of you have been on the Clark County assessor's Web site, but it's pretty excessive," said Sabra Smith-Newby, lobbyist for Clark County. "You can look up your neighbor's home, how many rooms they have, and how much they bought home for. There is a lot of information that's on there."
Barry Smith, executive director of the Nevada Press Association, countered that public access would diminish, especially for elderly, minorities and low-income households with less access to the Internet. He said he counted over 300 state and local agencies in Nevada that have their own Web sites.
"Publishing information on those Web sites is very helpful, but it becomes a maze of 'where do I go to find what?"' Smith said. "That is one of the basic tenets behind public notices in general-circulation newspapers. People need to know where to go to look so that they can find information that relates to them."
"I don't know a household myself that doesn't have a computer," countered Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas. "It's new technology, and I think it's time to move forward with it."
Smith also argued that newspapers are often the ones who make sure that these public notices are printed and take governments to court if they fail to comply.
"When times get tough, newspapers start to ask the accounting department, 'How much is it going to cost to fight for this principle?' and those decisions get harder and harder to make," Smith said after the meeting. "Right now, newspapers have a financial interest in making sure these laws are enforced. Who's going to do that?"
"Do you think the penetration of newspapers is better than Internet access?" asked Taxation Chairman Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas.
"No, I don't think that penetration of newspapers is better than penetration of the Internet," Smith said. "Yes, I think that readership of newspapers is better than readership of assessor Web sites."
If the measure wins final approval this session, it would cost newspapers in the state a lucrative revenue source. Newspapers have already been struggling with declining advertising revenue and have cut staff and pages from their papers.
"It certainly wouldn't be a good thing, and with everything else that's going on in the economy, it would be one more thing that's impacting newspapers," said Niki Gladys, publisher of the Nevada Appeal. "All media are suffering from loss of revenue, because especially our larger accounts are scaling back their spending."