Property taxes keep going up, how can we combat that?
Oct 20, 2023, 6:30 PM
FILE: If you've seen your property taxes getting higher and higher, you're not alone. Homeowners across the state are feeling the pinch. (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY — If you’ve seen your property taxes getting higher and higher, you’re not alone. Homeowners across the state are feeling the pinch.
It seems just as one property tax increase happens, there’s news of another increase proposal. Weber County just proposed an almost $4 million increase.
Weber County Commissioner Gage Froerer said the county itself hasn’t raised taxes since 2016. However, other entities have. He encourages people to voice their concerns.
“Where a majority of your taxes go, the school district typically has only four or five people go to their truth in taxation hearing,” Froerer said. “So, if people want to be heard, that’s the time.”
The county can’t reduce tax rate, but the state can
He said the county doesn’t have the ability to decrease the property tax rate at the county level. He hopes that will happen at the state level in the 2024 Utah legislative session.
President of the Utah Taxpayers Association Rusty Cannon also hopes this next legislative session will help homeowners out.
“Most taxpayers in Utah are pretty tired of their property taxes going up,” Cannon said.
According to Cannon, property taxes have gone up for several different reasons over the years.
“The main drivers we tell people all the time (are) local entitles, essentially government entities, raising their budget,” Cannon said. “Sometimes it’s justified, and then in our minds, sometimes it’s not.”
Help from the Utah Taxpayers Association
To combat more property tax hikes, Cannon said the Utah Taxpayers Association is working on legislation to provide some relief. That will need time to pass.
In the meantime, Cannon said show up to meetings, call your local representatives and voice your concerns.
“The best way people can, really, organize against this is to do the leg work, and speaking to their elected officials,” he said. “Typically, when they hear silence or very few people showing up to a meeting they see that as an endorsement of what they’re doing.”
Learn more below.
Devin Oldroyd contributed to this story.
Related: Utah homeowners hit with high property taxes as home prices soar
