Admitting it had made a mistake in calculating prior years’ property taxes, the Washoe County Commission forgave .9 million in back taxes owed by local casinos.
The commission said the county’s new budget manager discovered a prior miscalculation of complicated Chapter 491 taxes, which an independent audit confirmed.
The error resulted in the county not collecting some $400,000, the city of Reno $100,000, and the city of Sparks about $50,000 each year over the past seven years.
The commission said the miscalculation also resulted in local units not collecting the full amounts they should have been due, but the error was not the fault of the casinos.
Rather than collect on the county’s error, the Commission forgave the past debts. But, going forward, casinos in Washoe County will have to pay the full amount. They also must pay the higher adjusted amount on their current year’s tax bills.
Collecting the correct Chapter 491 tax revenues will result in local casinos paying about 30 times more than in recent years.
County officials said they have the right to collect the back taxes, but doing so would be very complicated. Many casinos have been sold or went out of business during the past seven years, and others likely would file costly legal challenges, county staff reported.
Although Washoe County forgave the debts owed by casinos, the county still must account for the $1.6 million it should have collected on behalf of local units, like the cities of Sparks and Reno.
