Over the past three years, appraisers from the Duchesne County assessor's office have kept a close eye on the growth in the county's west end and in the Argyle Canyon area south of Duchesne.
But even going over the large expanse of rugged, remote territory, section by section, mile by mile, assessors say it's still impossible to keep up with people building homes on the land without first obtaining a building permit to let the county know they're here."There's no doubt there are homes missing assessment, but sometimes discovery is difficult," detailed county assessor Greg Garff.
The problem doesn't just occur on the remote west end either, he noted. Sometimes a lack of correlation between the county and cities results in a building permit that doesn't get passed on in a timely manner, and as a result a homeowner is hit with two to three years in back taxes once the error is discovered.
When county appraisers discover a home that went up without a building permit, the owner automatically faces five years in back taxes, unless they can prove the house hasn't been there that long.
Building without a permit will also net the homeowner a building fee double its original price, Garff said. And if the county can prove the house has been hidden to avoid taxes, a 100 percent penalty can be assessed.
The discovery of homes previously unlisted on county tax rolls comes through drive-by inspections of areas - sometimes even on ATVs because of the rugged country - and other times through the sale of the property.
"A lot of them (escaped properties) are definitely honest mistakes. The homeowners just don't know what to do, but really most people know they have to pay taxes, and they just don't want to. There's a lot of area out there, and they know it," related Kris Bancroft, deputy assessor.
Since 1994, the assessors office has collected $25,488 in taxes after locating properties which should have been on tax rolls but were not. Bancroft points out the amount may be small in terms of taxes, but it represents a lot of escaped properties that have been located.
"Taxwise this reflects many properties when you figure a cabin pays about $200 to $300 in taxes," he related.
The county has just four appraisers to cover 25,000 to 26,000 acres of land, and one building inspector assigned to monitor construction. These same individuals also have paperwork to keep pace with, along with five-year cyclical appraisals of the entire county and immediate directives from the State Tax Commission.
With the increasing workload and lack of manpower, they say help from the general public is needed to remind people moving into the area that they need to obtain a building permit, and in reporting those who choose to defy the county ordinance.