North Shore property owners appealing their property tax assessments rejoiced yesterday following mass tax hearings in Reno, but the Washoe County Assessor's Office contends the issue is still unresolved."We won!," exclaimed Maryanne Ingemanson, president of the Village League to Save Incline Assets, the group protesting its property tax assessments. "It's just incredible. My heart is pounding. I'm so excited."The Board of Equalization voted unanimously to lift the 8 percent addition to the land tax assessment for all of the mass appellants, and it voted county assessors were not using the new assessment rules and regulations passed Aug. 4."This is a $3 million win for Incline Village and Crystal Bay," Ingemanson said. "And it's equally as exciting the board was on our side regarding the rules and regulations decision."The Washoe County Assessor's Office plans to appeal the BOE's decision, according to Washoe County Senior Appraiser Ernie McNeill.The BOE removed the 8 percent valuation but not the 8 percent factor, according to McNeill. He said people now need to consider whether the taxable value is more than the market value of their property."The law requires us to do one of two things," he said. The county reappraised local property in 2003. These reappraisals are site-specific, McNeill explained.In between appraisals the county assessor's office calculates a factor, which is a statistical analysis of the relationship between a property's taxable value and its marketable value."Nothing addressed the factoring - neither as a whole nor individually," McNeill said. McNeill said the BOE was emphatic about not placing blame on the appraisers. "The process is so convoluted that it's impossible to do," he added.As far as the newer regulations go, McNeill said the assessor's office is waiting for guidance from the state department of assessment standards. It is his opinion that if Nevada's assessment process returned to a market-based assessment, such as most states use, "based on this year's values, increases would be incredible."And McNeill had another bone to pick with the process. If the thousand or so taxpayers get tax relief but the 8,000 or so who did not appeal fail to get the same tax relief, it would result in "gross inequity," he said."Be careful what you ask for," McNeill advised. He said the county would ask the state for an expedient solution to get the situation resolved before tax bills are sent out in July.