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Guest Column: Maryanne Ingemanson’s legacy



While Maryanne Ingemanson felt it necessary to step aside as the President of the Village League to Save Incline Assets’ Board due to serious health issues, the legacy she leaves will be long remembered and greatly treasured by the property owners of Incline Village/Crystal Bay.

The outpouring of gratitude and comments of genuine appreciation being expressed by the community to this recent announcement is testimony to her enormous contributions.

And, that she left a strong and dedicated board capable of decisive action and determination to achieve total victory is one of her major legacies.



Of course, the greatest victory was the July 2011 Supreme Court decision which has now resulted in 7,451 refunds being processed totaling nearly $45 million (including $7.5 million in interest).

This was the capstone of many court victories that Maryanne has led during this 11-year battle with Washoe County. But this huge win was just a milestone in this ongoing fight with the government bureaucrats.



Many of us recall the day back in 2003 when resident property owners received the tax bill that increased the average property tax payment by some 50 percent (some were 100 percent+ and vacant land owners got a whopping 76 percent average bump).

While many of us just moaned and asked “why,” Maryanne organized for action. She brought together a board with various skills needed to fight the fight, interviewed legal representation until we had just the right person, directed the board to gather signatures on petitions to protest the outrageous increases, hired experts to help make our case and directed the efforts to raise well more than $1 million to fight the legal battles on behalf of all of us.

Many words have been used to describe Maryanne. Among the ones heard most often are “brilliant,” “tenacious,” “determined” and “dedicated.”

It is hard to comprehend the time and effort she expended to right the wrongs, expose the illegal and unconstitutional methods used to appraise our properties and to seek the appropriate corrections to an unequal and unfair treatment of the IV/CB property owners.

We’ve all heard the phrase “It takes a village.” Well, Maryanne galvanized this village. She was the orchestra leader that put all of the pieces together to form a symphony. She certainly has to be proud that she grew a grassroots organization through a volunteer board.

And, her efforts will continue on by the board and legal representation she put together. Her spirit and conviction has rubbed off on all of us and we’ll continue what Maryanne so brilliantly put together.

We are inspired to finish what we started and, together with the support of the community, win what is rightfully ours in spite of the tactics and stalling on the part of our opponents.

Thank you, Maryanne, for all you have done and we look forward to your good counsel and advice as we go forward.

This column was co-authored by the Board of Directors for the Village League to Save Incline Assets. Learn more at http://www.nevadapropertytaxrevolt.org.


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