A proposed flat property tax rate for Tooele County schools in 2015 means some homeowners will have a higher tax bill this year.
The Tooele County School Board is proposing to keep its 2014 property tax rate of .009593 instead of letting it drop to 2015’s certified rate of .009058.
This means if the school district doesn’t change its rate to the 2015 certified rate, the property tax bill for the average $170,000 home in Tooele County will be $50 higher for the school district.
It also means property owners whose assessed value stayed the same — or went down in 2015 — will pay the same or less property tax to the school district in 2015 than they did in 2014.
Keeping the tax rate flat or unchanged instead of letting it float down to the 2015 certified rate is part of the district’s long-range plan to build a capital fund reserve, according to Superintendent Scott Rogers of the Tooele County School District.
“This isn’t something new,” he said. “We have kept the property tax rate level since 2013. It’s part of the long-range plan adopted by the school board two years ago.”
Keeping the tax rate level is consistent with the district’s pledge during last year’s bond election campaign to not raise the property tax rate for schools, Rogers said.
The district is proposing to keep the 2015 tax rate the same as the 2014 rate even though the state Legislature raised the portion of the tax rate set by the state, according to Rogers.
If adopted, the flat tax rate will bring in an additional $1.7 million in property tax revenue than if the district had adopted the lower certified rate for 2015.
“We need to build up our capital fund after years of reduced state funding to make repairs and improvements on our existing facilities as well as prepare for building new facilities,” Rogers said.
The increased capital fund will mean the district will need to bond for less money in the future, saving the district and its taxpayers money in the long run, he said.
The certified property tax rate is the rate that will result in the school district receiving the same amount of tax dollars, except for taxes on property or improvements new to the tax rolls, as it did the previous year.
The certified rate is calculated by the Tooele County Auditor and approved by the Utah State Tax Commission.
If a taxing entity plans to adopt a tax rate higher than the certified rate, it must go through a process defined in state law as “truth in taxation.”
Truth in taxation requires a public hearing to explain the purpose for the higher rate and an opportunity for the public to comment on the tax rate prior to the school board’s vote.
The Tooele County School District will hold a Truth in Taxation hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 7 p.m. in the district office boardroom at 92 Lodestone Way in Tooele City.
A total of 35 taxing entities throughout the state have proposed a property tax rate for 2015 that is higher than their certified rate, including 13 of the state’s 41 school districts, according to the Utah State Tax Commission.