The Summit County Assessor’s Office expects Deer Valley Resort’s and the Talisker Corporation’s tax appeals to reach a state appeals board.
Deer Valley and Talisker, which owns Park City Mountain’s land, are petitioning for a lower assessed property value, which means lower property taxes. Assessor Stephanie Poll said they still haven’t reached an agreement.
During the 2025 General Session, she accused the attorney representing the companies of attempting to strong arm the county with a Senate bill. He allegedly told the county he would kill the bill if the assessors gave the resorts a break.
Poll declined to share the name of Deer Valley and Talisker’s attorney. But emails KPCW obtained through a public records request indicate she was referring to Steve Young, a top Salt Lake City tax attorney with Holland & Hart.
Young declined to comment March 28.
He was a member of the state legislature’s “dream team” tax force that recommended a 2019 tax cut package that rolled back Utah income tax and raised some sales taxes. State lawmakers repealed the unpopular tax reform almost immediately.
Poll believes it was Young who asked Sen. Dan McCay, R-Salt Lake, to add four lines to Senate Bill 295 that would have altered the “income method” of property appraisal to the benefit of property owners.
Poll worried the addition may have hampered assessors’ ability to accurately assess business’ value.
The way Utah property taxes work — other things being equal — if one taxpayer gets a break, all the others have to pay the difference.
McCay ultimately decided to cut the lines from the bill, which easily passed into law. He hasn’t responded to KPCW’s requests for comment during and after the legislative session.
After the session ended, Deputy Summit County Manager Janna Young touted the removal as a major lobbying success.
Utah State Tax Commission representatives declined to discuss appeals with KPCW. Poll said they haven’t set an initial hearing date.
Deer Valley Resort and Summit County are financial supporters of KPCW. For a full list, click here.
