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Show 22 Vernal Express Wednesday, August 7, 1996 How to appeal your property taxes Hints Due to Utah's booming economy, property values are skyrocketing throughout the state and county assessors as-sessors are working to bring taxable values up to market levels. As a result, re-sult, many property owners are experiencing ex-periencing huge increases in property proper-ty taxes when they receive their annual an-nual Notice of Property Valuation from the county auditor. Here's what taxpayers can do to appeal assessments as-sessments they feel are overvalued. If the market value listed on your notice is higher than what you think your property would sell for, you should appeal to the board of equalization equal-ization within 30 days or by the date on the notice. Step 1: Obtain a copy of your property tax file from the county assessor as-sessor and check it for errors. Make sure the property description is accurate. ac-curate. See that the acreage of the lot and the square footage of the building are accurate. Verify the number of rooms and any unfinished unfin-ished space in the building. Errors which would inflate the value of the property should be identified in your appeal. Step 2: Substantiate the value of your property. This can be done with real estate closing papers, a professional appraisal, or values of recent sales of comparable property obtained through a realtor. Many realtors re-altors are willing to provide a computer com-puter listing of property sales at no cost in hopes of getting your future business. Those who have had their mortgages refinanced recently can submit that appraisal with their appeal. ap-peal. Step 3: Submit any errors found during Step one, and the value established es-tablished in Step Two along with your appeal to the board of equalization equal-ization within the time period indi cated on the notice. In larger, counties, coun-ties, you will be notified of a specific specif-ic date and time for your appeal after af-ter you submit your request. In smaller counties, your appeal may be heard at the same time your request re-quest is made. Some counties allow taxpayers to mail their appeals and some of these may be decided without a formal hearing. Step 4: The Hearing: There will be three parties at the hearing: a representative repre-sentative of the county assessor, a neutral arbitrator appointed by the county, and you or someone you select se-lect to represent you. It is up to you to show why your property is not worth what the assessor says it is worth. This is not the time to complain about high taxes. The only appropriate appropri-ate matter to be considered is the value of your property. The assessor's representative will show why he feels the property is worth what is shown on the notice. You will have the opportunity to ask questions or make comments about the assessor's information. Step 5: If you are unhappy with the decision of the board of equalization, equal-ization, you may appeal to the State Tax Commission. However, you have only 30 days to make the appeal. ap-peal. The Tax Commission will review re-view the record of the hearing, including in-cluding your information and findings find-ings of the board of equalization. As a general rule, taxpayers will not be able to introduce new evidence to the Tax Commission. Step 6: If you are not satisfied with the decision by the Tax Commission, you may appeal through the courts. To prevent drowning Drowning is the third leading cause of accidental death for children chil-dren in Utah. Children can drown in pools, spas, streams," bath tubs, 5-gallon 5-gallon buckets, and anything else that holds water. Children must be supervised at all times, when they are near water. Being distracted for even a split moment, mo-ment, can result in tragedy. The Utah Safety Council offers, the following tips to help prevent drownings: Never leave a child alone in a bathtub even for a moment to answer an-swer the phone or door. This scenario sce-nario too often results in a fatality. Keep toilet lids closed and youngsters young-sters out of the bathroom except when supervised. Keep 5-gallon buckets away from children; children can fall in head first and drown in just a few inches of liquid. Make sure all buckets are emptied and stored away from children after household chores are done. Wading pools should be supervised super-vised and emptied promptly after use. Spa and hot tub use should be monitored. Long hair should be pulled back to keep away from circulating drains. Don't assume that because your child has had swimming lessons that they are water-safe. Children should never go near or play in open water without approved ap-proved supervision. Water can be fun and a good way to cool off, but remember the dangers dan-gers associated with it. There's No Excuse For Domestic Violence. For information on how you can help stop domestic violence, call us. 1-800-END ABUSE Family Violaxx Prevention Fund tmssHCo HMD mmm D 1 u rVYAV Mn-k G mm Tim sSrO Please come dressed for your physical. Example: Boys wear shorts and T-shirt. Girls wear swimsuit under your clothes. It is advised that even if you are not participating in fall sports, that you take advantage of this opportunity and get your physical for winter and spring sports. o How to spot a telemarketing sales scam? Effective January 1 new telemarketing telemar-keting regulations were adopted by the Federal Trade Commission. Telemarketers must now disclose who they are, identify that it is a sales call and tell what they are selling sell-ing at the beginning of each call. They can not call back if you request re-quest them not to. They must disclose dis-close total cost of goods and services, ser-vices, including shipping and handling, han-dling, and if a prize is offered, they must give the odds of winning and tell you of any restrictions that apply. ap-ply. With these rules in mind, be alert to some of these statements that are warning signs of possible telemarketing scam. You've won a prize or a prize has been reserved for you. You've been selected to receive a special offer. of-fer. You must act immediately or lose your chance for a special offer, or you must spent money to reserve your free gift or pay for shipment of your gift. You're promised fantastic returns re-turns or risk-free investing. You're told that a legal loophole allows people in the know to profit from a one-time-only situation. You're asked for your credit card number and expiration date to make sure you are a credit card holder. You are asked for your Social Security number or personal financial finan-cial information such as your bank account number. You're asked to donate to an agency that sounds like a well-known well-known charity such as the American Cancer Center rather than the American Cancer Society. You're asked to give to an organization you don't know, but one that sounds like it's linked to a public agency such as the Police Support Center. If you have questions as to the validity of any organization or if you feel your rights have been violated vio-lated by a telemarketer, contact the Division of Consumer Protection, Utah Dept. of Commerce at 801-530-6601 or 1-800-721-7233; the Federal Trade Commission, Denver licitations, request in writing to have Regional Office at 303-844-2271; or your name removed from national the National Fraud Information telemarketing lists. Send to: Center at 1-800-876-7060. If you Telephone Preference Service, 6 A , East 43rd St., New York. 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