Summit County Manager Shayne Scott said staff are seeing a “softening of property values” this year, since many property owners are winning their tax appeals.
Sept. 15 was the deadline for taxpayers to appeal after Summit County mailed out property values this summer.
Since then, landowners have reduced their property values by close to $30 million in total. County auditors say they are less than halfway through processing all the appeals.
Scott said he isn’t concerned; under Utah law, governments always collect the same amount of property taxes.
“Even as values drop, the rates will rise to keep the same amount of property tax that we always collect,” Scott said on KPCW's “Local News Hour” Sept. 22. “In Utah, it’s a funny system. It’s pretty secure and safe.”
So if one taxpayer’s bill goes down, another person's bill goes up.
The Summit County Auditor’s Office has seen fewer appeals since they spiked in 2023 amid soaring property values. More often than not, taxpayers did not win appeals that year.
Deputy auditor Chase Black said the county is on pace for 1,700 appeals this year, compared to 1,800 in 2025.
He said the county council is set to review another property value decrease — $5.6 million less — Wednesday.
Councilmembers will also look at the final 2025 financial report. It shows that 22% of Summit County’s revenue came from property taxes, but 44% came from sales taxes.
“That's more concerning to me than anything,” Scott said. “We are reliant so heavily on sales tax, and it's so much more volatile. Property taxes tend to be pretty stable.”
Scott is expected to propose the FY2027 budget to the county council this fall. The FY2026 budget was Summit County’s first to eclipse $100 million.
The county manager has asked councilmembers to consider raising property taxes twice in the past three years, which they have resisted.
For FY2025, the council dropped a proposed property tax hike because a majority of voters approved a 0.5% sales tax.
The advantage of sales taxes is that, despite their volatility, county estimates show the majority of the revenue comes from visitors and tourists.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.
