As property values go up, appeals surge

The hullabaloo over assessed property values means more paperwork for county assessors in Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties.

And it also means the Utah Legislature's Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee has scheduled a public hearing Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. to discuss the impact property taxes had on Utah residents this year.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, the deadline for property value appeals, landowners in Utah's three largest counties had filed 11,426 appeals — 4,047 more than they did in 2006.

That number is small compared to the total number of properties in each county, but the number of appeals is expected to rise this week as mailed appeals trickle in. But they must have been postmarked by Monday at 5 p.m.

The number of requests for tax appeal hearings more than doubled in Utah County this year.

Requests started pouring in over the phone at 8 a.m. Monday, until a clerk in the auditor's office shut down the system at 5 p.m. By that time, the number of hearing requests had skyrocketed to 3,026. Last year's count was 1,062.

In Davis County, appeal requests came in spurts, said Jonathan Lee, chief deputy in the clerk/auditor's office.

But from 4 to 5 p.m. there was a steady stream of property owners — most from Bountiful — who dropped off their forms with comparable home sale prices attached.

Larry Wilcox, who lives in Bountiful, was the last person to file in Farmington in person on Monday.

He said his property value increased 47 percent over last year's assessment, and he doesn't believe the market value placed on his 17-year-old home is accurate.

Wilcox, who still works and has paid off his home, said he doesn't believe the tax burden on himself is as bad as for people who are retired and live on fixed incomes.

"Something should be done," he said. "(The tax rate) ought to be adjusted down the road. Cap it at some point."

That way, he said, once someone's income is fixed, his expenses are fixed, as well.

It was easy to find similar stories and hear pleas to government officials to improve the methodology for collecting property taxes.

On average, Davis County's residential property values increased 19.5 percent, but Bountiful saw the highest increase in values in the county: 30.5 percent.