Case I
Equity
Appeal
The subject property was a 124-unit apartment complex
assessed by the Clark County, Nevada Assessor’s Office with a
total taxable value of $15,565,405. The property transferred
ownership within days of the valuation date at a sale price of
$10,400,000, which would have provided evidence to support a
reduction in taxable value based on a “fair market value”
approach utilizing the purchase price. However, understanding
the taxable values established for other apartment properties in
the tax district, we concluded that $10,400,000 was still not an
equitable value. As a result, we protested the assessment from
an equity standpoint and compiled supporting data to strengthen
our position. Through negotiations with the Assessor we were
able to reduce the taxable value to $8,845,405 and save the
client an additional $15,768 over what would have been saved
if appealed based on a valuation approach. The client’s total
savings amounted to $68,400.
Case II
Abatement Challenge
The
subject was a partially-improved retail center located in Clark
County, Nevada. The taxable value of the property was lower than
the purchase price, with the sale occurring approximately 12
months prior. In addition, there were no recent sales
transactions in the area that were below the taxable value. As a
result, there was no merit in challenging the assessment using a
valuation approach. However, after reviewing the Appraisal and
Tax Bill records, we determined the parcel had been subdivided
from the adjacent larger parcel during the prior tax year. The
Assessor’s Office treated the subject parcel as “new land,”
which under the statute allowed it to create a new base year
value for the parcel, rather than indexing the assessment from
the prior abated amount. We appealed the determination arguing
that the parcel should have been considered a “remainder parcel”
pursuant to the statute and the prior year’s abatement carried
forward. We prevailed in the matter, saving the taxpayer
$28,769.
Case III
Correction
of Facts
The subject property was a pharmaceutical R & D campus
located in San Diego County, California. The property’s taxable
value was less than what we determined the current “fair market
value” to be. However, after a complete audit of the both the
secured and unsecured assessments we concluded that the company
was being double assessed for some of the improvements made to
the campus. We appealed the assessment and had many of the
improvements removed from the secured roll which saved the
client $19,415 in tax liability.
