The District acquired 87 unbuildable tax delinquent Incline Village properties from Washoe County in October of 2012 and early 2013. That acquisition was secured based upon staff’s misrepresentation that the subject properties would be held for “open space” public purposes. Based upon this misrepresentation the County waived all delinquent taxes against those parcels, and transferred them to the District.

But because those properties were located within the District’s June 4, 1968 boundaries, their owner(s) were technically entitled to beach access. And because there was demand for beach access by those without beach access (and not only owners of Incline Village/Crystal Bay properties without beach access), former Finance Director Gerry Eick knew he could sell those properties rather than hold them for “open space” purposes. So that’s exactly what he did. But rather than coming to the IVGID Board for approval to sell these parcels, Mr. Eick entered into contracts to sell three of them; he executed deeds on behalf of the District to convey those parcels; he unilaterally determined to whom those parcels would be sold; he determined for how much those parcels would be sold; and, he determined where the proceeds of those sales would be assigned in IVGID’s financial reporting system. So on March 31, 2014 a gross $14,095 was received from Mr. Eick’s sale of APN 126-294-28 to the Sabin Living Trust; on July 18, 2015 a gross $14,095 was received from Mr. Eick’s sale of APN 126-294-29 to the Randolph-Wall Living Trust; and, on December 9, 2015 a gross $19,000 was received from Mr. Eick’s sale of APN 126-294-18 to the JDG Trust¹. None of these sales was made with the IVGID Board’s nor the public’s knowledge! How could this happen? Because the Board abdicated essentially all of its powers to its unelected staff. And what did the Board do to address this abuse once it was brought to its attention? Nothing.

Fortunately the State Legislature did something. As a direct consequence of these sales, NRS 318.512–318.5126 were enacted by the Legislature in 2019. And henceforth, “any sale of real property of a (general improvement) district (“GID”) that does not comply with the provisions of NRS 318.512 to 318.5126, inclusive, is void.”

1. Note that each of these sales was for less than $100,000 [see Policy No. 3.1.0.5(f) above] or the $50,000 limit which was in effect at the time.