Davis County to beef up assessor's office
Funds OK'd for new hires after property valuation uproar
The assessor's office has been understaffed in recent years, and the employees will help catch the office up on assessing commercial, as well as residential, property.
Davis County Assessor James Ivie expects to assess the entire county in 2008 instead of just 20 percent the minimum required by law.
Various county residents were outraged this summer when they received valuation notices that showed their property values and property taxes would double or more this year.
Bountiful had the largest average increase in values in the county at more than 30 percent. Countywide, the average was 19.4 percent.
In August, Bountiful residents packed into Farmington Junior High to demand that county officials make some changes.
They had previously approved the purchase of aerial photography software designed to speed up the appraisal process.
And recently, commissioners, the Davis Board of Education, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and Bountiful city combined to approve nearly $5.7 million to be used for a one-time tax reduction called an "equity abatement" that will show up automatically for properties that saw at least a 24 percent increase in value since 2005.
Davis County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings said between 18,000 and 20,000 properties in the county fit that description.
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.
But county officials recognized that the equity abatement is a one-year, one-time fix.
Ivie said the temporary employees will help with some of the data collection that is necessary before his office assesses properties in 2008.
Ivie told commissioners Tuesday that the tax burden can shift to residential properties if commercial properties aren't assessed regularly. Three of the new employees will focus on commercial property. Ivie hopes to make those employees permanent during 2008.
"Every year we should be able to re-evaluate every residential property in the county," Ivie said.
Commissioner Louenda Downs called the new employees "money well spent" and efforts to reappraise the entire county "time and efforts well spent."
Ivie said he hopes to urge the Utah Legislature to make Utah a full-disclosure state, meaning that home sale prices are reported to the government for appraisal purposes. Utah is one of seven states where full disclosure isn't required, Ivie said.
E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com
Comments
- Carlos becomes hurricane off Baja 6:54 p.m.
- Cheney-CIA counterterrorism talk 6:53 p.m.
- Peirsol breaks WR in 200 back 6:51 p.m.
- Logan canal breaks; 3 to 4 missing 6:37 p.m.
- 'Mates: Millsap deserves big payday 5:22 p.m.
- Millsap offer: $10.3M up front 4:59 p.m.
- Questions about osteoarthritis 4:43 p.m.
- 'Love advocates' plan 'kiss-in' 3:46 p.m.
- Many-splendored container garden 3:29 p.m.
- California's $26B deficit 3:25 p.m.
- Jazz brass debate Millsap match
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- 2 men cited on LDS plaza
- Jazz finances not quite so bleak
- Logan canal breaks; 3 to 4 missing
- Utahns among Texans' investors
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- Millsap offer: $10.3M up front
- Cash for Clunkers to get rolling soon
- HBO defends U. logo use in 'Love'
- LDS seminary principal arrested
331 - Jazz brass debate Millsap match
192 - 2 men cited on LDS plaza
164 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
141 - Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
124 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
101 - Fairness of BCS debated
83 - Letters: Single-payer system best
76 - Services bids farewell to Jackson
70
By now you've probably read about the investigation that showed just how...
The photographs are mysterious, brooding, dark. They show dimples and...
let Milsap go, I relize he may be one of 4 people on the team with heart, get...
To "I Smell California," who brilliantly made the following comment a few...
dollar contract and he is getting 10 million this year than he will only be...
The Jazz already have a couple of other PFs they can use: Okur is really a...
Wasn't Joseph Smith's "inspired translation" enough? Will someone please...
I had Bro Pratt as a seminary teacher only two years ago. He is the most...
We do need to see the evidence as it comes out in the Legal system. If...
We want this stuff. The media aren't making money without our permission,...
I don't want homosexuals exposing themselves in front of my children. The...
What some of you don't understand is that if GM had filed bankruptcy without...



You can be the first to comment on this story.