The Morning News analysis also showed which governments expect the biggest hikes or cuts in property tax revenue this year.

By percentage, the biggest projected increase is 392 percent in the small Riverside Cemetery Maintenance District in Box Elder County, which projects $11,500 in property tax revenue this year. The biggest decrease is 31 percent in the Upper Country Water Improvement District in Duchesne County.

The average for all local governments is an increase of 6.2 percent.

Other local governments with large projected property tax increases are: South Summit Cemetery Maintenance District (116 percent); Newton, a city in Cache County (112 percent); a fire protection service area in Grand County's Castle Valley (99 percent); and Piute County (88 percent).

As an example of why taxes go up, Piute County Assessor Dale Bagley said the county raised its taxes for the first time in 12 years to cover rising costs of services. He said the big bump this year might have been avoided with smaller increases over the years.

Taxes are also going down in some areas, as in Duchesne County's Upper County Water Improvement District, where residents will get a 31 percent cut.

As an example of why tax revenues may go down, South Summit School District business administrator Zane Woolstenhulme said his district, where taxes are projected to go down 5 percent, did not have much of a choice in the matter.

He said the value there of oil and gas properties assessed by the state dropped significantly. Also, the portion of education property tax rates set by the state for redistribution among all school districts was lowered (because the value of property in most of the state had increased). However, since property values decreased in South Summit itself, its tax revenues also decreased.

Of note, nearly two-thirds of local governments in Utah cut their tax rates this year. But most of their property tax revenues went up. How? The assessed value of property within their boundaries went up significantly.

Taxes are figured by a two-part equation: multiplying a tax rate times the taxable value of property.

Salt Lake County Assessor Lee Gardner says, for example, that the value of all assessed property in his county went up by 8.3 percent this year. About three-fifths of that came from reappraisals of property, and two-fifths came from "new growth" or new developments.

Truth in taxation laws in Utah require governments to lower their tax rates to offset increases in assessed valuation — unless they hold specially advertised hearings and votes to increase overall taxes. But they can keep extra revenue from "new growth" without such extra hearings or votes.