The good news is that after several years of enduring a sluggish real estate market in Duchesne County, prices of homes and property are bouncing back.
The bad news is that the tax man knows that, too.A state-mandated "corrective action order," coupled with the county's annual effort to keep appraisals current, has resulted in a 20 percent boost in overall residential property taxes this year, explained Kris Bancroft, a deputy assessor for Duchesne County.
When tax disclosure notices are mailed out later this month, residential property owners in the Roosevelt, Duchesne, Myton, Tabiona and Fruitland areas, will notice the value of their property has increased substantially, and at the same time, so have their property taxes.
Homeowners in Myton will be hit the hardest. Because the area hasn't been evaluated for about the past five years, residential property there will jump by an estimated 50 percent, said Bancroft. He says even with the increase, residential property in Myton is still listed on tax rolls at about 20 percent below market value, according to sales ratios.
Because of a state-mandated refactoring order, which the assessor's office is mandated to complete every five years, a home in Myton that was worth $21,342 last year now has a fair market value of $32,013. Accordingly, taxes on that home went from $230 in 1995 to $345 this year, an increase of $115.
But compared to the rest of the county, Myton residents have been getting a pretty good break, Bancroft detailed. Other areas of the county, which have been re-fac-tored more frequently in accordance with corrective action orders from the State Tax Com-mis-sion, have seen their property taxes rising steadily for about the past three years.
The latest corrective action order instructed the assessor's office to factor primary and residential property in the Roosevelt area upward by approximately 15 percent. A home in Roosevelt city valued at $60,694 last year is worth $69,798 on the tax rolls this year. At the same time property taxes on that home rose by just over $90.
In addition, the county assessor's office was also directed to reappraise vacant land in the west-central area of the county and raise property values to reflect the current real estate market. As a result, many west-end property owners in the Fruitland area will experience a property tax jump of about 30 percent.
In Duchesne the fair market value of land is up. According to refactoring figures supplied by the assessors office, last year the ground value of land that a home sat on was listed at $2,592, but this year that same land is valued at $5,832.
"That is based on sales of ground in Duchesne," Bancroft said. "The average building lot here is selling for $10,000."
Duchesne area residents shouldn't see much of a change in property taxes on their homes because they were refactored last year.
Primary residential homes are taxed at 55 percent of their fair market value, while non-primary residential homes are taxed at 100 percent of their value.