W.V. official errs on tax figure

As he proposed a 64 percent tax hike this month, acting West Valley City Manager Paul Isaac offered some consolation. He said residents' overall property taxes, from all local governments serving them, still would be about average for Salt Lake County.

He was wrong.

If the hike were enacted, overall property-tax bills there would be about 9 percent above the current county average. They are now about 2 percent below it. So West Valley City would go from below-average overall taxes to significantly above average, according to a Deseret Morning News analysis.

The analysis drew from a database that the newspaper maintains of tax rates charged by all local governments in the state, and resulting tax bills in the nearly 1,200 "tax areas" formed by their overlapping boundaries.

Isaac acknowledged Thursday that when he said total property taxes from all local governments in West Valley would still be about average with the proposed tax hike, he was looking only at larger cities with populations roughly similar to West Valley, the state's second-largest city, with 120,000 residents.

"If you include those other (smaller) cities, the average in the county will be lower," he said. The Morning News included all Salt Lake County areas in computing and comparing averages.

Isaac's proposal would raise the city's portion of property taxes on a $200,000 home by $177 a year, which he said is needed to maintain current service levels in the growing city. Such increases had been delayed in recent years by the city's use of money from property sales, debt restructuring and other temporary revenue sources.

West Valley City government currently charges about $278 in tax on a $200,000 home. With the proposed hike, that would increase to $455.

Besides paying property tax to West Valley City, residents there also pay to the county, school districts, water districts, mosquito abatement districts and other special districts. West Valley City has 22 "taxing areas" with different rates resulting from the overlapping boundaries of the many local governments. The average overall property taxes currently charged among those 22 West Valley areas is currently $1,575 on a $200,000 home, which is slightly lower than the overall Salt Lake County average of $1,602.

But with the proposed hike, the average overall West Valley tax bill would rise to $1,752 on a $200,000 home. That would be about 9 percent above the county average.