Utah County approves most property-tax actions; grants selective abatement and small interest waiver

The Utah County Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 16 approved the county's recommended property-tax actions with three exceptions, moving several individual appeals and abatements as staff recommended while granting relief in two specific cases.

Bert Harvey of the county's tax administration briefed commissioners on multiple appeals included in Recommendation Letter 2018-14. Harvey said one appellant had missed a filing deadline because the evaluation notice was addressed incorrectly in county records and staff had verified the discrepancy in the recorder's office; staff recommended allowing that late appeal to proceed.

Commissioners spent the bulk of the discussion on three discrete matters. On Kenny Sang Construction, staff records indicated a statement had been mailed timely and recommended denial of relief from the interest; commissioners nonetheless asked the board to consider waiving only the interest portion, not penalties. On the case of Barry and Lynette Crockett, staff said the couple had already been awarded an indigent abatement that forgave half the tax under statute; commissioners debated whether to go beyond the statutory abatement because of the household's medical hardships. Commissioner (recorded as '2' in the transcript) said, “I have a hard time trying to attack somebody out of their home,” and moved to grant a full abatement in that case; the commission approved that exception.

The board also flagged county-owned parcels that had outstanding greenbelt rollback taxes after the county acquired them for road work or other public uses. Commissioners discussed statutory requirements and how title transfers do not complete until rollback taxes are paid; staff identified parcel 240030049 (noted in meeting records) for additional review. Commissioners directed staff to tighten procedures going forward to ensure rollback taxes are addressed at closing and to pull parcel 240030049 for follow-up.

Chair calls carried the motion to approve the property-tax actions as amended; the motion passed 2-0. The commission asked staff to return with clearer documentation on the greenbelt account balances and options to prevent similar issues with future county acquisitions.

Next steps: staff will pull parcel 240030049 for further review, implement front-end process changes to avoid unpaid rollback liabilities on county acquisitions, and record the full-abatement action for the Crockett case in the county file.