FARMINGTON — Davis County, the Davis School District, the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and Bountiful city will try to take the sting out of this year's tax bill by offering a one-time tax discount, known as an "equity abatement."

Recent action by the Davis County Board of Commissioners, the Davis Board of Education and Weber Basin Water solidified their tax rates and property-tax increases by all three entities.

But because property values in the county were assessed surprisingly high this year in Bountiful and elsewhere, many residents will be hit by tax bills that are, in some cases, twice as high as in 2006.

The equity abatement, which will show up on November's tax bill, will be automatically applied to any residential property that saw a 24 percent increase in value since 2005.

Among the four entities, nearly $5.7 million will be available to alleviate property taxes by $100 for every $20,000 in value over the 24 percent increase.

So a $200,000 home in 2005 valued at $300,000 in 2007 would be eligible for a $260 reduction in taxes.

The four entities can provide that money because they estimated their budgets before actual new-growth numbers were available.

Under the law, taxing entities, such as cities, counties and special service districts, are only allowed to receive the same amount of revenue from residents as the previous year, plus new growth.

New growth in 2007 meant that the Davis School District will receive an extra $4.5 million, Davis County will receive an extra $1 million, Weber Basin Water will receive $100,000, and Bountiful will receive an extra $70,000 beyond what they had budgeted to receive.

Bountiful is the only entity out of the four that didn't raise taxes this year.

Bountiful City Councilman Richard Higginson said he and Councilwoman Barbara Holt enthusiastically supported the idea during Tuesday's council meeting, and the rest of the council agreed to proceed with the abatement.

Bountiful City Manager Tom Hardy said he hopes other taxing entities, such as the Davis County Library and Davis Mosquito Abatement District, will add to the pot of tax-abatement funds.

"If everybody chips in, we could give more significant tax relief," Hardy said.

Davis County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings said there are 18,000 to 20,000 properties in the county that likely experienced a 24 percent increase in market value over the past two years.

He said 58 percent of those properties are in Bountiful, 13 percent are in North Salt Lake, 9 percent are in Farmington and 7 percent are in Kaysville. The remaining 13 percent are located in the other 11 cities in Davis County.