FARMINGTON — Davis County and the Davis School District are proposing tax relief in the form of $5.5 million in tax abatements for up to 20,000 residential property owners in the county.

Davis County implemented a tax increase in December, and the school district had proposed a tax increase, but both entities went back to the drawing board last week after residents complained during truth-in-taxation hearings.

Values for residential property in Davis County went up an average of 19.4 percent this year, and tax increases by four taxing entities are expected to hit some residents' pretty hard.

Davis County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings said some residents saw their property values double, and others saw 50 percent increases.

But anyone whose values went up 24 percent or more over the past two years, which is the average increase for the past two years, will be eligible for the abatement.

For every $20,000 in market value over that 24 percent increase, the county is proposing to reduce property taxes by $100.

So a $100,000 property in 2006 now worth $224,000, would be eligible for a $500 reduction in taxes.

It's something county officials are calling "equity abatements" to make the tax burden more fair for those residents who were hit harder, they said Thursday.

Rawlings said the county and school district could forgo the $5.5 million because both entities will receive more new-growth property-tax revenue than budgeted.

Budgets for the county and school district property-tax revenues were set long before the county assessor reported the new-growth numbers, according to a news release.

When those numbers came back, the county had an extra $1 million, and the school district had an extra $4.5 million they didn't expect.

The abatement proposal still needs approval from county commissioners and the Davis Board of Education, but the Utah State Tax Commission has supported the proposal.

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.

"We just want to do what's right," said Commissioner Louenda Downs, adding that she hopes residents will see county leaders as "responsive and responsible to taxpayers."

More than 300 people, mostly from Bountiful, crammed into Farmington Junior High School Aug. 9 to protest the county's tax increase and the values their properties were given.