Taxing times here again

Truth-in-taxation hearings — five of which are scheduled this week — have occasionally drawn hundreds of residents to school board meetings to swipe at proposed tax hikes.

Boards typically sympathize — and raise taxes anyway.

"These public hearings, for lack of a better term, they're really a sham," said Citizens for Tax Fairness spokesman Ronald Mortensen, who earlier this month addressed the Davis Board of Education on its $1.3 million tax hike for reading. "There's no give and take back and forth, there's no real response. They all listen and some of them squirm a bit, but when you are done, no matter what you say, they vote to approve it."

But officials indicate local boards are up against a wall. The law times truth-in-taxation hearings well after budgets are set, albeit tentatively. Inevitable system glitches bring further delays. And officials report little political desire to overhaul the complicated system.

Nevertheless, truth-in-taxation hearings hammer home government checks and balances. Boards can lay out spending and educate the public on their needs, school officials say. And the public can either empathize or sour boards' appetite for future increases, tax watchdog groups say.

Hearings this week

Truth-in-taxation hearings are scheduled tonight in Granite, Jordan, Murray and Salt Lake City school districts, and the Weber Board of Education's is Wednesday, the Utah Taxpayers Association reports.

They are among 22 school districts and around 50 Utah entities proposing tax increases for the governor's reading program and other purposes, according to the association. Most already have held truth-in-taxation hearings.

The hearings are required under Utah's Property Tax Act. The act mandates how they're handled, right down to taking out ads in local newspapers, to ensure the public knows about and can give input on proposed tax increases.

"We tell people they need to show up because if they don't, then the district gets the message that taxpayers aren't concerned . . . (and) they can continue to raise taxes every year and no one will mind," Utah Taxpayers Association Vice President Mike Jerman said.

But the timing of the hearings seems odd, and deadlines leading up to them unreachable, some say. That frustrates local entities from school boards to city councils.

Central to the issue is determining certified tax rates.

Rates are based on values of three types of property: locally assessed homes and businesses; centrally assessed utilities and other property crossing county boundaries; and personal property, such as office or business equipment.