Property tax relief proposed

A proposal to alter the way the state's property taxes are calculated could lead to consideration during the 2008 Legislature of an amendment to the Utah Constitution. If lawmakers approved such an amendment, it would then require a statewide vote.

Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, plans to run a bill in 2008 that would change the way county assessors arrive at a property's market value, which now is based on sales data of comparable properties.

Stowell's legislation would base calculations on a five-year rolling average of property values, which would flatten out any potential spikes in value.

A sharp single year's increase in values would only cause a slight increase in the five-year average, said Utah County Assessor Kris Poulson.

But because the Utah Constitution states that properties are assessed in proportion to their fair-market value, Stowell's legislation, if passed, would require a change in that wording.

Two-thirds of legislators in the House of Representatives and Senate would have to approve the amendment and then submit it to a vote of Utah residents.

"I believe people are so upset over fluctuating values we could pass a constitutional amendment," Stowell said.

Sen. Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, recently got a draft bill passed out of the Legislature's Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee that would force taxing entities to raise taxes incrementally and more often instead of in large jumps. If a taxing jurisdiction wanted to raise taxes beyond the rate of inflation, it would require a vote of the people.

He praised Utah's current property tax system, which requires taxing entities to hold public hearings if they want to collect more property-tax revenue than the previous year, minus the revenue from any new properties.

"Most people are not hearing about (public hearings) or are not understanding what they are," Niederhauser said. "We need to have more people weighing in on tax increases."

A vote is one way to do that, he said.

Niederhauser may amend his bill or draft a new one to require that all truth-in-taxation hearings in one area be held in one location so that residents don't have multiple tax meetings. In Davis County, four taxing entities held truth-in-taxation hearings in August, two of which were held in Farmington on different nights. One hearing was in Kaysville and one was in Ogden.

Niederhauser said the issue boils down to the fact that people hate property taxes.

That sentiment was evident in Davis and Weber counties this year.

Spikes in property values in Bountiful and Ogden Valley led to greatly increased property tax bills and an outcry from area residents.