Carson supervisors keep property tax rate the same

In preparing for what Carson City Chief Financial Officer Sheri Russell-Benabou believes could be a volatile election year, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to keep the property tax rate in the city the same as years past – $3.57 per $100 of assessed valuation.

The vote Thursday was unanimous and followed discussion of economic forecasts heading into fiscal year 2025, which begins July 1.

Property tax revenue for the general fund is expected to increase 5 percent, from an estimated $32.7 million in the current fiscal year to about $34.3 million in fiscal year 2025. Assessed valuation itself is expected to increase 9 percent as property values rise, but state law currently caps property tax increases at 3 percent for residential and 8 percent for commercial properties.

Because of the state’s tax cap, it doesn’t make sense for the city to raise the property tax rate, Russell-Benabou said.

“We would have to have a decrease in assessed value of 3 percent before I would ever come and say maybe we should increase the tax rate,” she said.

Mayor Lori Bagwell added that kind of hypothetical decrease would signify larger economic problems.

“If we saw properties actually declining by 3 percent, we’re going to have other economic issues occurring within the community, and so that’s not necessarily the time you raise taxes because that is really detrimental to see property values actually declining,” she said.

Consolidated taxes for the general fund, which include sales tax revenue, are expected to grow more modestly. The city projects an increase of 2 percent, from an estimated $42.5 million in the current fiscal year to about $43.4 million in the new fiscal year.

Russell-Benabou maintained the 2 percent is a conversative estimate that will protect the city from any economic downturn. She discussed sales tax trends since the current fiscal year began July 1, 2023.

“Currently with five months of data, we are seeing an 8 percent increase, but it’s only five months of data, and we have seven more months to go,” she said. “It’s an election year, which tend to be very volatile, so I am keeping them (projections) at 2 percent so nothing untoward happens … Hopefully that’s very conservative.”

Bagwell said the projected amount may be revised upward depending on actual receipts.

Russell-Benabou added, “Depending on what sales taxes do — if we do see a dive in the next couple of months — I probably won’t go with 2 percent for (fiscal year) ‘25. I will probably drop that down to 1 percent. Obviously, the more data we have, the better projections we can make. Right now, I feel like 2 percent is safe. Unfortunately, I don’t trust election years. You just never know what’s going to happen in an election year.”

A tentative 2025 budget will be presented to supervisors April 18. Adoption of the final budget is scheduled for a special board meeting May 21. The city’s budget must be sent to the state by June 1.

In other action:

• Supervisors approved the second reading of an ordinance amending city code to allow child care facilities in the residential office (RO) zoning district.

A child care facility will now be a conditional use (requiring a special use permit) whether based in a home or office building.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Nevada initiated the ordinance change to establish a day care on Mountain Street in a former office building. The nonprofit previously told the Appeal the day care could serve about 100 children ages 5 and younger and could open by 2025.

• Pulling the item from the consent agenda, supervisors approved an application to remove more than $600,000 in uncollectible accounts receivable from the records of the city’s ambulance fund.

“The total write-off is $604,885.57 for July 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023, and this amount will be sent to a hard collections company, National Business Factors,” reads a staff report.

The Carson City Fire Department contracts with Wittman Enterprises for emergency medical billing and collection services for the ambulance fund.

“Wittman used all reasonable efforts available to them to collect these funds,” reads a staff report. “Most of the uncollectible amounts are due from transient individuals with no income or assets, or from people who are deceased or bankrupt. The unpaid amounts will remain on the credit records of the debtors for seven years.”

The report says if National Business Factors is successful in collecting funds, “the city will receive 70 percent of the amount collected.”

Russel-Benabou said the aforementioned six-month period is when accounts were deemed uncollectable even if the actual emergency incidents occurred years before.

• Pulling the item off the consent agenda, supervisors approved a $167,080 joinder contract between the State of Nevada and Summitt Forests Inc. to reduce fuels on 40 acres of private land along the east shore of Lake Tahoe.

The property lies in the Carson City boundary, and the reduction project is part of a U.S. Forest Service Hazardous Fuels-Community Protection Grant awarded to the city in the fiscal year 2020, according to staff.

“(Nevada Division of Forestry), as the pass-through grantor for the grant, authorized Carson City to award the contract for the project by utilizing one of the joinder contracts maintained by the State of Nevada’s Purchasing Division for fire fuels reduction and vegetation management services,” reads a staff report.

The report further states: “The remote area of Carson City abutting the east shore of Lake Tahoe has several parcels with historical structures and houses on them. The USFS completed fuel reduction work adjacent to this area but was not able to treat the private parcels. The grant and project allow this untreated, remote area to be treated.”

The vote was 4-1 for approval. Supervisor Maurice White voted against the contract, arguing a private landowner on the east shore of Lake Tahoe could afford fuels reduction on their own. White maintained it’s wrong taxpayer money — in this case a federal grant — is going to a project on private property.

Most supervisors disagreed, arguing any fire started in thick fuels would affect surrounding property owners and the entire community.

• Supervisors celebrated Tofi, a five-year-old chocolate lab, for five years of service to Carson City.

“I came here from Hungary,” reads a bio of Tofi distributed during the meeting. “I was supposed to be a drug detection dog but failed my training because I was too mellow. I sensed that I was needed elsewhere, so I became a therapy dog for staff and juveniles at Carson City Juvenile Services, Detention and Probation Department.”

Human employees recognized for years of service were Fire Captain Raffi Attashian (20); Marshal/Bailiff Thomas Miller (20); Court Interpreter Evelyn Wakeling (15); Drive Operator Craig Cook (10); Parks Project Manager Nicholas Wentworth (10); Skilled Trades Technician Andrew Koval (5); Deputy Sheriff Jose Nunez (5); Deputy Sheriff Cesar Pacheco (5); and Sheriff Support Specialist Brendon VanBeuge (5).