Utah School Districts Weigh Tax Hikes (UT)

August 4, 2010

Grappling with budget shortfalls, eight Utah school districts are planning to boost property taxes this month.

On the Wasatch Front, Salt Lake City, Davis and Weber County school boards are weighing tax increases. In rural Utah, school districts for Beaver, Daggett, Garfield, Morgan and Rich counties plan to bump their tax rates.

But Beaver and Daggett school officials say other school levies are declining so taxpayers won’t notice an increase on their bills.

Even so, taxpayers in all eight districts will get to offer their two cents at public hearings this month. Before school boards can officially vote to raise taxes, they are required by state law to consider public opinion at a truth-in-taxation hearing.

Last year, 10 of Utah’s 41 school districts opted for tax increases.

Larry Newton, finance director for the State Office of Education, said he is surprised more school districts aren’t turning to taxpayers this year.

“I would have expected a lot more,” he said. “School districts are going through a third year of waves of reductions.”

Schools have received less funding from the state and federal governments. In Utah, property taxes generate about 20 percent of public education dollars, with the remainder coming from state (70 percent) and federal sources (10 percent).