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Something about: (continued)
- “Why - if Davis County came up with only $5.1 million for tax rebates due to 40% improperly overly assessed properties, then why, with a $43.5 Million dollar surplus have you turned down repeated requests from Representative Froerer for a similar property tax rebate program claiming the money has already been spent? The people in Huntsville had their property taxes increase by an average of 92%! And The Ogden Valley had similar exorbitant property tax assessments.
-Why have you chosen to instead try to interfere with the Davis County rebate program? (Re Std. Ex., pg. 1B, September 15, ’07)
-Weber County’s set tax rate of 0.4063% is higher than the statewide average for other counties. Ogden City actually has the highest combined property tax rate in the State, with Weber County’s tax rate figuring into this equation. (OVN, pg 9, Aug. 15, ’07) Why are you taxing us out of our homes in Ogden, Ogden Valley and especially in Huntsville?
-What are you doing about the obvious disparate assessments in Huntsville and the surrounding areas?
- Who is being held accountable?
- Who is responsible for all the angst and expense and heartburn and what are you going to do about it?
- What is being done to make certain these gross errors of commission and omission are not repeated next year and to other parts of Weber County to “catch them up”?
-Why is it considered fiscally responsible to raise Weber County’s total surplus by 84% since 2004, thanks to “increasing revenues from property taxes”?
- At the expense of displacing multiple generations of families and putting the old and infirm at risk for their literal survival?
-Why do the Weber Commissioners not understand that Truth in Taxation (TNT) is not a rate based system but a revenue driven system?
- Why have you three Weber County Commissioners not followed the law dictated by TNT and significantly lowered the tax rates in areas where inaccurate data was generated by the Assessor’s office?
-Who is responsible for this “just throw something up against the wall and see what sticks” obscene property assessment in parts of Weber County?
-Who are you going to hit next to get the money for this budget?
-Please explain why FAA property in Weber County is taxed at only 15 pennies an acre? Is this an error or even possible?
Please add your own using the comments button. Let’s compile a list.
In the interest of brevity I will try to use a bullet format to refresh some memories about what we have learned:
Truth in Taxation (TNT) is a revenue based system and not a rate based one. That means whether a tax rate is increased or decreased is irrelevant (does not matter). Only the resultant dollars or “revenue” matters. This is confusing to our monsters, ghouls, and “Queens of Means”.
Marie Antoinette is quoted in today's Std. Ex. (Surplus), “The best part about the surplus… is that it comes without a tax increase and without raising the property tax rate. We’re in a good position, and it’s allowing us to not raise taxes. She said. That’s good because people are a little sensitive about taxes right now.”
How about that? We are “little sensitive right now...”. “Let’em eat some Halloween cake.” Sensitive - my worried friends on fixed incomes and already taxed to the brink of bankruptcy - about where the medications, food, rent, mortgage, heat, and other necessities are going to come from. “Sensitive”!
Commissioners have the option to lower the county tax rates by each district or taxing unit (TU) and thus reduce property owner’s tax bills. The TNT law requires it be done that way.
“We’re very concerned about the problem, but there’s not much we can do about it,” Zogmaister said. “We actually lowered taxes last year, but the property values keep going up.” (Source: Std. Ex., pg. C, September 9, 2007)
This is simply not true - except for the part about lowering taxes last year. That is true. Tax Unit 35 had our tax rate reduced by 3% in 2006, yet the assessments increased at least 60%. And in 2007 the tax rate was lowered by 13%, while the whacked out assessor raised our assessments by an average of 115%. Could the Commissioners have done something about it? Of course they could. And TNT law required them too. Yet they did not. Lowering the tax rate is an almost immediate option that would result in lower property taxes for home and property owners.
Thus property tax rates “float” in that they rise or fall according to revenue received each year from increased or decreased property assessments. An exception is property tax money, which comes from new growth. New growth happens when new property tax dollars are generated from newly created property assessments which are added to the county general fund.
“According to Weber County Comptroller, Dan Olsen, rounded estimates for new growth funds that were collected by Weber County during the past three (3) years are as follows:
2004: $ 192,000
2005: $ 460,000
2006: $1,362,000 (Source: OVN, Property Taxes, pg 9, August 15, 2007)
This TNT automatic reduction in property tax rates prevents the county commissioners from getting a windfall simply because valuations (assessments) have increased.
The rate setting process begins with the budgeting process. Taxing entities estimate how much property tax revenue they need. They begin with last years expenditures.
Before March 31 each year, county treasurers provide taxing entities with information about property tax revenues collected and distributed to them during the prior tax year.
This becomes the baseline revenue for the current year certified tax rate (CTR) calculations.
The county assessor and Utah State Tax Commission give valuation (assessment) information to the county auditor, including changes in value resulting from reappraisal (assessments) and factoring.
(Commissioner) Dearden said the commission set this year’s tax rate last December (2006) in the budget. He said at the time, they had no idea what the assessment increases would be.” Source “Std. Ex., pg. 2C. “Answers”, August 17, 2007)
Fair enough. So what happens to the argument that they set the rate based on last year’s revenue plus new growth? And they don’t have any idea what the next Weber County Assessor’s information will be (after 24 May when assessments are due to the Utah State Tax Commission). Does it not seem completely plausible that the budget for 2007 set in December of 2006 would have been relayed to the Assessor? Why is it not possible that the Commissioners simply said, "Auditor tell us how much we need to get the max the State allows." “Assessor, go out and get us the money we need to fill out our budget for 2007. Oh and by the way since the Utah State Tax Commission only allows us to have a twenty percent (20%) maximum windfall, let’s shoot for that number.”
And what a surprise-surprise-surprise! I’ll be darned if the tentative budget for 2008 is not estimated to be 19% again for the second year in a row. What a coincidence?! (Source: Std. Ex., pg 6B today’s edition).
Is this fiscally responsible, just dumb luck or unchecked and balanced greed at the expense of people who are already tapped out from over taxation for the past three years in a row?
And these same people are asking us to vote for yet the third sales tax transit increase in a row on top of this. Fourth if you count the RAMP tax. Fifth if you count the Weber Water Basin Conservancy 25+% increase, then there are the other three and then…the 1% county option tax. The .25 % tax increases which change to .3 increases in January, and $10 and then $20 increases in vehicle registration fees/taxes...
The Utah State Tax Commission and county auditor calculate the Certified Tax Rate (CTR) and the auditor provides the taxing entities with valuation (assessments) and CTR information.
The CTR is calculated such that the county (or other taxing entity) will receive the same amount of property tax revenue it received the previous tax year plus any revenue generated by new growth.
“For the last two years the commission has lowered the CTR as property valuations have increased. This means the only increase in the County’s budget has been from new growth. Which does not affect current homeowners? In this year’s approved budget, the County will see a General Fund increase of just over one percent (1%).” (Source: Std. Ex., 31 Aug, 07 Guest Commentary by the three Weber County Commissioners).
If a Weber County budget was 100 million dollars in 2006 and new growth was, for example, $2 million, the new 2007 CTR would be calculated to return 102 million to the Weber County coffers according to the above process. So how is the statement “Which does not affect current homeowners.” True? Sure it does. The new CTR has a built in new growth escalation factor (2% increase for example). We homeowners have to cough up the old dollars plus the new dollars (2%) so the next year CTR will escalate, but I could be wrong. Try explaining that to residents in Ogden Valley and Huntsville. Try telling them their taxes did not double or worse.
People tell your neighbors. Print this and explain it to your friends and neighbors…spread the word please. Our “local government is out of touch, out of control, and out of their minds if they think they can be re elected”.
Our elected local government officials are not the monsters. The Tax Code is the monster. But some of these people could be considered ghouls and greedmaisters at this particular time of year. Some would call them "tax and spend conservatives”? What? oxymoron’s? I am allowed one pun a month.
Namaste,
Minor Machman
