Counties and the State Tax Commission work to determine the property values, then what the rates need to be so entities will take in the same amount of money as the year before, plus growth.

Timelines are tight. The law says county assessors must have their work to county auditors by May 22. Auditors must report to the State Tax Commission by June 1. The tax commission has until June 8 to calculate the certified tax rate and get it to the counties, which then get it out to the local taxing entities and mail out individual tax notices to property owners.

It's a complicated chain of events. One broken link, be it delayed paperwork, a computer glitch, or calculation error, delays the whole system.

And there's a delay every year, said Denny Lytle, director of the commission's property tax division. This time, the tax commission had to redo rates because it misinterpreted formulas set up in a new law.

Nobody's pointing fingers, and most local officials are sympathetic. But frustrations have run high.

"Now, the state is late to the counties, the counties are late to the municipalities. But nobody extends our budget (deadline)," Salt Lake City Councilman Carlton Christensen said. "They all have the leeway, but local government doesn't."

Hearings' real role

Some district officials quietly liken truth in taxation as a club to beat them with after budgets are tentatively set and contracts entered.

"I know of some school boards who would rather walk on hot coals than go through the truth-in-taxation process," said Larry Newton, school finance director at the State Office of Education.

But the process does serve a purpose — and it's not initial public input.

"Truth in taxation is not an initial investigation of whether they want to spend the money," said Roger Tew, an attorney who does tax policy analysis work for the Utah League of Cities and Towns. "They've made a preliminary decision they need the money . . . and most of the time, they may not change their mind. That's more a reflection of they've probably done their homework and made the decision they need to before they've gone out."

School boards talk budgets all spring. This year, the growing Jordan District predicted needing new tax dollars to keep pace with the cost of doing business — a decision the Utah School Boards Association (USBA) says is never taken lightly.

The district sought input. But residents didn't clamor to comment at its budget hearing.

History shows the calm won't last long. Five years ago, about 300 people came to the district's truth-in-taxation hearing on a proposed tax hike and class-size increase.