Synopsis by D-Bell, Huntsville -- Complete article below
From 14 August, "Davis Clipper", "Tax Revolt", report by Melinda Williams,
Synopsis:
"Truth-in-taxation" meeting, Farmington, mostly senior citizens attended. One said perhaps because younger taxpayers were working overtime or second jobs to pay for their milk and taxes.
Dec., Davis County Commission passed a $7 million tax increase for its 07 budget of $87 million. D-Bell's comments in italics and bold font; (Why does Weber County have a 100+ million dollar budget?)
Many residents were adamant their houses couldn't sell for what the assessed valuation is.
"Some of those attending threatened to vote the commissioners out at the next election if they didn't do something about the spiraling tax hikes, and others said things will reach a point where taxpayers will form a grass roots movement to pass a Proposition 14-type initiative."
- Bountiful City council member Moss said it was unfair that residents saw a 40 percent increase in property tax, while the rest of the county saw a 20 percent increase, with no increase to commercial and industrial land.
Suggestion to commissioners - they roll back property values to last year's. Barring that he suggested property taxes in the other cities be brought up so the tax rate will do down.
(Bountiful saw a 40% increase...and they are upset. What about the Ogden Valley and Huntsville in particular? At more than 100%? After further review of Huntsville resident's property assessments, there are at minimum 59 out of 245 parcels looked at which are simply preposterous. Vacant lots claimed as a primary residence, 1.5 acre lot with a tumble down cider block shed as a primary residence, commercial properties as a primary residences and un-reassessed, many vacation and vacant homes all claimed as primary residences to get the 45% discount rate, creative land parceling to evade taxes, inappropriate claims of argi. FAA land on .3 acre parcels, GROSS assessment disparities between very similar homes, .75 acre lots with wild gyrations in assessed values, the list goes on and on. This has prompted several residents to ask if the assessor's have been drug tested...seriously. A thorough and competent audit and reassessment is definitely in order! And if Huntsville Town is a valid sample of the effectiveness with which the County Assessor did her job the entire County needs a redo. After State Tax Commission training and drug testing of course...) There are no doubt several within the assessor's office who are competent and honorable people...they just apparently did not work much on the Huntsville Town assessments apparently.
Throw out the baby and the bath water and start all over again this time doing it in the proper order and with the correct assumptions. Obviously no true valuations can be made out of thin air with no "comps" valid and no sufficient sales data for Huntsville Town. This clearly required. D-Bell
Article in its entirety
Tax revolt!
Melinda Williams
14.AUG.07FARMINGTON —
“Don’t burn Joan of Arc yet; we were elected to help find answers.” Saying tax collection is a painful thing, Davis County Commissioner Louenda Downs told an irate crowd at a truth-in-taxation hearing here Thursday night to reserve judgment. More than 300 people — mainly senior citizens — stayed well past the 8 p.m. ending time scheduled for that hearing, in an un-air conditioned Farmington Junior High, to rail against tax hikes which hit those on fixed incomes particularly hard.
Sherry Brophy of Layton told the commissioners that perhaps there were few younger taxpayers in attendance, because, “they are either working overtime or second jobs to pay for their milk and taxes.”
Most attending were upset about the recent revaluation of homes in Bountiful, which caused their taxes to skyrocket but people from Sunset to North Salt Lake joined to tell commissioners they can no longer make ends meet and pay a host of other taxes as well.
In December, the (Davis) county commission passed a $7 million tax increase for its 2007 budget of $87 million.
County officials explained where that $7 million went: $4 million for jail operation and maintenance, and another $3 million for flood prevention and senior services.
Those remarks prompted those attending to respond. One man who said his property taxes were rising at such a rate that perhaps the jail would be the only place he could afford to live, another commented about school district taxes (which the commissioners have no control over) building a Taj Mahal of a high school in Syracuse.
When Downs tried to explain that high property values were tied to the booming real estate market, she was contradicted by Centerville resident Gordon Tyler, who pointed out that recent news reports indicated mortgage companies are filing bankruptcies and sales are falling.
Many attendees were adamant their houses couldn't sell for what the assessed valuation says they are worth.
Kaysville resident Maynard Morris suggested the commissioners, who make $100,000 each yearly, cut their pay in half, He said, “It looks like we rent our home. We don’t own our home, we rent it (from the county).”
Some of those attending threatened to vote the commissioners out at the next election if they didn’t do something about the spiraling tax hikes, and others said things will reach a point where taxpayers will form a grass roots movement to pass a Proposition 13-type initiative. Proposition 13 was passed by California voters in 1978 and put a cap on the amount of property tax which could be levied.
Bountiful resident Chuck Swallow said he received a 3 percent raise increase at his job, but received a 28.5 increase in his property tax.
He accused the commissioners of paying lip service to angry taxpayers. “You folks have made up your minds on what you’re going to do. You just called this meeting to blow off steam.”
He told commissioners that the idea of a taxpayer revolt as in Proposition 13 is real. “You don’t want that. We don’t want that, but we will do it.”
Both Bountiful City council member Fred Moss and city manager Tom Hardy voiced their disapproval, representing residents of the city hit hardest by the tax hike.
Moss said it was unfair that Bountiful residents saw a 40 percent increase in property tax, while the rest of the county saw a 20 percent increase, with no increase to commercial and industrial land. “You’ve been asking us to pay more than our fair share for five years,” he said.
Indications were the majority of those in attendance were Bountiful residents, prompting Hardy to say, “I think this tells you where the problem is.”
He suggested the commissioners roll back property values to last year’s. Barring that he suggested property taxes in the other cities be brought up so the tax rate will go down.
Commissioners voted to wait two weeks before deciding what to do about taxes.
mwilliams@davisclipper.com
