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Show H6 qffthouseReport - High Court Decision Will Guide SJNew Tax Revaluation Proaranis ting -j.; By c. SHARP -TtJ,h's Supreme Court oor 2 rebuffed both the ; te Tax Commission and County for failing to .assess property in con-)rnlity con-)rnlity with the law. 'W far-reaching decision SiO help guide the new re-M re-M sessnient program provid-, provid-, ' for by SB20 enacted by eW , recent regular session of , Legislature. HI In its decision the high 'Vt held that the Tax Cfimmission. had failed to for "mply with the law in 1965 pud 1966 when it raised pro- valuations sharply in ovo and Orem but failed -1. MM to cover the rest of the. county. , , And it held that the Utah County Commisssion sitting as a Board of Equalization had ignored the law by fixing fix-ing values of land by classification class-ification rather than by cash value. Remedied by Amendment An amendment ratfication by public vote last November Novem-ber now paves the way for the Tax Commission to revalue re-value certain farm lands on their use for farm purposes rather than their cash value. val-ue. But applications for this classification may not be filed until October 1, 1970. The opinion holds further that once the Tax Commission Commis-sion has revalued property and conducted hearings on this revaluaton, neither the county assessor nor the county board of equalization may change the assessments Asked what the opinion means to Provo and Orem property valuations, Justice R. L. Tuckett, author of the opinion, said: "The past valuations are found to be incorrect. It will be up to the county assessor as-sessor to work with the State Sta-te Tax Commission and local lo-cal authorities fixing valuations valua-tions which will stand up on the tax records." Heavy Increases The Tax Commission had re-assessed 16,000 parcels of land in the two cities. It raised valuations in Provo by an average of more than 100 per cent and in Orem y more than 150 per cent. As a result owners asked the county for 1,200 readjustments. read-justments. The county reduced valuations valua-tions on 700 tracts. The state then raised these valuations substantially, but too late to go on that yea'r's tax records. Ransom Qunn, Tax Commission Com-mission chairman, announced announc-ed that the commission will ask for rehearing of the case to determine how the state can go about its reassessment re-assessment work. Big Job "It would take three full years to revalue all the property pro-perty in Salt Lake County," he said. "We believe that valua-tons valua-tons should be applied as they are completed, but that in view of the decision, the process must be continued until a full county is revalued" reval-ued" he added. Meanwhile the Tax Commission Com-mission is making plans to put into force beginning July 1 a new law passed" by the recent session of the Legislature. This specifies that the state and the counties shall provide for orderly reassessment reas-sessment of all property to the end that all property is reassessed every five years. 70 - 30 Spread The state is to pay 70 per cent and the county 30 per cent of this cost, with work to be done by appraisers apprais-ers licensed and trained by the state. One provision of this new law says that where new assessed values are added to the tax rolls as a result of the reappraisal program, the county or other taxng district shall adjust its mill levy to yield not more than 106 per cent of the previous year to meet local budgtary emergencies. The Tax Commisson can waive this limitation to meet local budgetary emergencies. emer-gencies. Mr. Quinn said the Tax Commisson asked for $432, 000 to employ 66 mol appraisers ap-praisers to accomplish the reappraisal work, but only $240,000 additi onal was appropriated. Will Hire Men He said additional men will be hired effective July priorities will be fixed meanwhile, to determine where and when these men will reappraise property. Utah's economy is bound-ng bound-ng back after a slowdown m 1967-1968. the Tax Commis-son's Commis-son's collection report shows Collections for the uniform uni-form school fund (mainly income tax) now stand a? $37.58 million for the past nine months, or 16.9 per cent ahead of the previous year. General fund collections (largely sales tax) now total to-tal $59 million or 10.5 per cent better than a year ago. Gasoline tax collections toal $20.26 million or 6.9 per cent ahead of a year ago. A quality review and control con-trol program will be launched laun-ched within the Health and Welfare Departments (to be known beginning July 1 as the Social Services Department). Depart-ment). Ward C. Holbrook, executive director, announced announc-ed April 2. lie said the output and quality of work by each division di-vision will be reviewed to test accomplishment and point the way to greater efficiency. |