The highs and lows of Utah taxes

Imagine two homes with exactly the same $250,000 value, except that one is in the canyonlands country of Blanding and the other is near the crystal blue waters of Bear Lake.

Guess the difference in their property taxes.

It would be $1,643 higher this year in Blanding than Bear Lake.

Blanding has the state's highest property taxes, $2,361 on a $250,000 home. Taxes would be just $718 on a same-valued home in unincorporated Rich County near Bear Lake, the lowest in the state.

The areas were also, respectively, the highest- and lowest-taxed in the state last year, according to annual analyses by the Deseret News using State Tax Commission data. The findings come as property tax notices had to, by law, be mailed last week, and property taxes are due Nov. 30.

Because of crisscrossing boundaries of the more than 500 local governments in Utah, the state has 1,300 "tax areas" with different tax rates. Each has a different mix of governments among counties, cities, school districts and special districts for water, sewer, fire protection, libraries, cemeteries, mosquito abatement and recreation.

Unfortunately for Blanding residents, their mix costs the most as they pay property taxes to their city, county, school district, a cemetery district, a water district and a health service district.

Blanding city administrator Chris Webb says residents there shouldn't blame high taxes on the city. "In the 13 years I've been here, the City Council has never raised taxes. In fact, the rate now is lower than it was 13 years ago."

Blanding Mayor Toni Turk said previously that he figures high taxes result mostly from challenges faced by the San Juan School District that operates "13 schools in an area of 8,400 square miles with a student population under 3,000. The high school tax is, in my opinion, a matter of the logistics, the distance and travel that is very atypical."

Webb also said the area has seen the assessed value of oil drilling and mining facilities decline, so taxes rates have climbed to make up for that loss.

Far away at the northern tip of Utah, Rich County Commission Chairman William Cox said his area has been careful to live within its means. "We've been careful not to outrun new growth with new services. We've been criticized for that at times, because some want services already here when new growth appears."

He added, "I feel its better to have money in the bank than to borrow through bonding to anticipate growth and have those anticipation dreams go away." Cox said that with the recession slowing growth, he is glad his county took the approach it did.