Remodels and new additions can also cause your property value to go up, but sometimes such additions go unnoticed by appraisers.

The Salt Lake County Assessor's Office scours through building permits to make sure they have the most up-to-date information to accurately set property values.

For new homes, an appraiser will stop by to measure the home in order to set a value to it. Once the home is finished, appraisers stop by the home again to verify the value. If a homeowner finished a basement the appraisers weren't expecting, the value of the home goes up.

About every five years, the assessor's office reappraises the area by doing a market analysis to see what comparable homes sold for.

Educating the public

If your home value didn't go up as high as the average home in the area, you'll likely pay lower taxes, unless there is a tax increase approved after a truth-in-taxation hearing.

"Our biggest problem is educating the public," Ivie said, referring to a line in a letter he received after valuation notices were mailed.

"I know that you folks jury-rig the appraisals so that you match your budget," the letter reads.

Ivie said nothing could be further from the truth.

"We can't raise revenue through valuation," he said. "They (the public) don't understand appraisals and the tax system."

Here's how it works:

Truth-in-taxation hearings prevent tax entities from cashing in on rising property values. The law prevents tax entities from collecting more property tax than the year before — except for taxes on new growth — unless they hold such a hearing.

Several tax entities across the Wasatch Front will be holding these meetings over the next few weeks, starting Tuesday.

At least 66 local governments seek to raise property-tax rates above levels that would provide the same revenue as last year, according to an analysis by the Deseret Morning News of State Tax Commission data.

Tax entities across the Wasatch Front are asking for increases to pay for everything from funding bigger operations budgets to fixing leaks in the Arthur V. Watkins Dam in Willard Bay.

Five Utah County cities and all three school districts are proposing to have truth-in-taxation hearings to increase their revenue over what they received last year.

Cedar Hills City Councilman Eric Richardson, whose city will be having a hearing in late August, said it's painful to tell residents that the city is asking for more money, but it's a necessary step to keep up with inflation.

"Every city council member and every county commissioner hates doing anything with taxes," Richard-