The Town Hall in Park City Wednesday night is billed as an opportunity for citizens to voice their concerns over recent property tax valuations.
Summit County residents were notified by mail last month of their updated property values and upcoming tax bills. Roughly 20% of property owners in the county saw an increase in taxes, while other county residents will see new assessments over the next several years. In total, the county’s market value came in at $46 billion – a 38% increase over last year.
Summit County Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Ballash is one of the meeting organizers. She said bloated home values have resulted in unfair tax valuations, and residents haven’t been given the opportunity to be heard by state and county officials.
“We all heard from the assessor,” Ballash said. “And she had two meetings, one of which one of the councilmen picked up his computer and walked out. And so this is a chance to hear from the state representatives, who are all incumbents who got up and represented all of Summit County for the last two years."
Despite having only Republican representatives and council candidates on the meeting’s flyer, Ballash says this is a bi-partisan event where any resident can come and speak.
"People have a right to uninhibited robust and wide open debate, especially on issues with which hit them in their pocketbook. After all, we sought a war against taxation without representation."
Wednesday night’s town hall will be held at the Santy Auditorium at the Park City Library from 6 to 8 p.m.
Information on how to appeal the property tax valuations will be made available to those in attendance.
The deadline to appeal property values is 5 p.m. Thursday, September 15th.
Appeals can be made online. Appeal and tax relief information can be found in the web version of this report.