FARMINGTON — Eight temporary data-entry employees in the Davis County Assessor's Office should give the county the support it needs to prevent a public outcry this year.

And barring any property-tax increases in the cities, the tax rate should drop countywide, says Davis County Assessor James Ivie, who reported to Davis County commissioners recently that his office is making progress toward its goal of assessing the entire county in 2008.

In 2007, Bountiful, North Salt Lake and Farmington were reappraised in accordance with the law, which states that each county must be reappraised every five years.

Assessors accomplish that by reappraising one-fifth of their counties each year. And they use computer software to update the four-fifths of the county that isn't physically inspected.

However, before 2007, areas of Bountiful hadn't been reappraised for more than a decade, and bringing those properties up to market value, combined with property-tax increases by four taxing entities, led to sticker shock at the mailbox when residents received their valuation notices.

Some homeowners saw their property values and tax bills double.

Davis County officials teamed up with the Davis School District, Bountiful, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and Davis Mosquito Abatement District to provide an "equity adjustment" to property tax bills.

The equity adjustment was funded by unexpected tax revenue those entities are entitled to from new properties.

About $5.8 million in new growth revenue was split among 23,392 properties in Davis County, the only county to offer such tax relief. The average abatement was $212, according to the Davis County Clerk/Auditor's Office, though just fewer than 1 percent of those eligible for equity abatements had their taxes discounted by $1,000 or more.

But the equity abatement was available only for the 2007 tax bill.

So Davis County commissioners approved $100,000 in emergency funding for the assessor's office in 2007. About $41,000 is left to pay those temporary employees this year.

Because those employees will do much of the preparatory work leading up to reappraisals, they won't be needed in 2009.

Ivie said his office has contracted with an appraisal firm to ascertain values in Centerville and Clearfield. Clinton and Syracuse properties will also be reappraised in 2008.

"We will bring all properties up to market value, which we haven't had the staff to do in past years," Ivie said.

Commissioners, who along with Ivie, took the brunt of criticism from residents during 2007, praised Ivie's work this year.

Meanwhile, the Utah Legislature has been attacking problems with the property tax from various angles.

Currently, there are at least 17 numbered bills dealing with property tax collections, truth in taxation, assessments, property-tax relief and the method for calculating property taxes.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com