Like prices, property tax on the rise

Gasoline prices are up. Food prices are up. Now, 85 local government entities in Utah are proposing to hike property taxes, too.

The cities, counties, water districts, school districts, fire districts and even cemetery districts say they need the extra cash to keep up with rising fuel costs, growth and higher costs for basic services — and not for big, new projects.

Some proposed increases are huge. The biggest is a 293 percent hike for Clarkston, Cache County. It would cost an extra $465 a year on a $250,000 home there, if approved. (Town leaders did not return numerous phone calls seeking reasons for that increase.)

Some proposed hikes are tiny. For example, Payson is proposing a 0.2 percent hike that would cost just 27 cents a year on a $250,000 home.

News of the hikes come in big, required-by-law newspaper ads and notices mailed to homeowners this month showing the assessed value of their property. (The notices and ads also include the time and place of hearings about those proposed hikes.) A list of all proposed hikes is also on deseretnews.com (click on graphic "Truth in taxation, 2008").

Utah's "Truth in Taxation" laws require public hearings and newspaper ads any time local governments propose to raise overall property tax revenues (not rates) beyond what they collected the previous year (not counting money coming from new growth).

The State Tax Commission compiled a list of 85 governments going through that Truth in Taxation process for hikes this year, all of which will be holding hearings during the next month or so as they decide whether to impose the proposed increases.

The biggest increases reported, besides Clarkston, include: Saratoga Springs, a 199 percent hike that would cost $225 on a $250,000 house; Kane County, a 60 percent hike costing $209; American Fork, a 56 percent hike costing $160 was proposed initially but has been reduced; and Washington Terrace, a 37 percent increase costing $133.

Saratoga Springs City Manager Ken Leetham said about its increase, "We've been a city for about 10 years, and we've never raised taxes ... This is mostly to catch up." The city has increased in size from just a few hundred residents initially to about 15,500 now.

He said, "In addition to costs going up for fuel and expanding services, we really need to make that tax adjustment" for not raising taxes for so many years.

Kane County Commissioner Duke Cox said the increase there will help hire an additional employee each for the sheriff and county attorney, and some extra planning and zoning employees he said are needed to keep up with quick growth in that county.

"Fuel costs are definitely a concern for all our budgets," he said. "All of our employees have to travel quite a ways" in that rural area.