Author: Jennifer Durham

2019
ANNUAL REPORT

To the Salt Lake County
Board of
Equalization

Table of Contents

❸ Letter from Clerk of the Board of Equalization
Salt Lake County Auditor, Scott Tingley
❹ Highlights
❺ Overview
❽ Tax Appeals Process
❾ Trends
⓰ Key Performance Measures
⓱ Initiatives and Projects to Improve
The 2017 Annual Report covers fiscal period August 1, 2018, through April 10, 2019.

Letter from Clerk of the
Board of Equalization

I am honored to present the 2019 Annual Report for the Board of Equalization for Salt Lake County. The purpose of this report is to:
Communicate the results of the 2019 Board of Equalization session to the board members and the public.
Identify and provide trend analyses of note or significance and data that could inform decision-making, improve processes or functions, and provide insight into future conditions.
Communicate and report on the County Auditor’s Property Tax Division key performance measures.
Identify and report on the progress of key Property Tax Division initiatives and projects to improve Board of Equalization processes and procedures.
It is a pleasure to serve the people of Salt Lake County and to present this Annual Report. As always, please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or require additional information.
Sincerely,
Scott Tingley, CIA, CGAP
Salt Lake County Auditor

❸

Highlights

38.5% of all appeals resulted in adjustments; however, the average adjustment rate per appeal of 4.8% is a seven-year low.
2019 marks the second year eNOVs were sent to property owners. Our office was able to track whether the email was opened and the attachment was clicked. If neither of those happened, a hard copy of the NOV was mailed to the owner of record. We had very positive feedback with this program.
2019 was also the second year we launched our online appeal filing. Of the 3,693 appeals we received, 796 were received online. This is one of a few initiatives we are working on that will allow an appeal to be processed electronically from beginning to end.

❹

Overview

Appeals Filed in 2019
The 2019 Board of Equalization received 3,693 appeals representing approximately 1% of the 362,000 parcels assessed by the County Assessor. This year’s appeals resulted in 185 Hearing Officer recommendations.
Twenty nine percent (29%) of the appeals were filed with the help of a representative (tax rep). A large majority of appeals are delivered in person, though a sizable number (24%) chose to email their appeal. Appeals initiated by the Assessor made up 12% of the appeals in 2019, the same in 2018.

❺

Overview

The chart below shows the total number of appeals received for each year since 1999. After housing prices began to drop precipitously in 2007, the number of appeals skyrocketed to a high during 2009, stayed relatively high for three years, and then dropped off over the last six years back to more typical pre-housing bubble burst numbers.

❻

Overview

A summary of all actions taken by the Board of Equalization can be found in the tables below. The pie chart below also demonstrates that most appeals (56%) do result in a change of value. Of the appeals that result in an adjustment, almost half are resolved without ever going to a hearing, usually from an Assessor recommendation that is accepted or not disputed by the appellant.

Appeals Adjusted	2018	%
Assessor Recommendation	1264	31%
Assessor Stipulation	660	16%
Hearing Recommendation	299	7%
Hearing Stipulation	5	0.1%
Charity/Religious/Education	65	2%
Total Appeals Adjusted	2293	56%

Appeals Denied	2018	%
Withdrawn/Dismissed	435	11%
Denied	1377	33%
Total Appeals Withdrawn/Dismissed/Denied	1812	44%

❼

Tax Appeals Process

Phase 1

Screening
Tax Administration screens submitted documentation for sufficient evidence.
If necessary, taxpayer receives notification that more evidence is needed.
If there is no response to this request, the appeal may be dismissed.
Estimated percentage of appeals
resolved at each phase per year.

â

Phase 2

Value Review
Assessor reviews documents and makes recommendation on whether the value should be adjusted or not.
Taxpayer will receive recommendation by mail and can accept decision to finalize the appeal or continue to the next phase.

56%
resolved

Phase 3

Hearing
Taxpayer presents case to hearing officer.
Hearing officer proposes recommendation
Board of Equalization approves recommendation.
Taxpayer will receive recommendation by mail and can accept decision to finalize the appeal or continue to the next phase.

39%
resolved

Phase 4

Utah State Tax Commission
Utah State Tax Commission will mediate dispute between Taxpayer and Assessor and send final decision.
Taxpayer will receive recommendation by mail and can accept decision to finalize appeal or send appeal to 3rd District Court.

5%
resolved

For more information about the Property Tax Appeals Process, click here.

❽

Trends

Adjustments in Market Value
The 2019 Board of Equalization adjusted the value of properties appealed by 4.8% on average, which is the smallest average change in the last four years. In 2011 and 2012, for example, the Board of Equalization lowered the values of appealed properties by an average of 16%.

Market Value Changes Detail
Detail
De

Year	Before BOE	After BOE	Amount	Percent
2019	10,985,907,120	10,454,508,160	531,398,960	4.8%
2018	11,939,454,400	11,285,560,500	653,893,900	5.5%
2017	8,742,654,220	8,215,706,250	526,947,970	6.0%
2016	10,533,348,260	9,804,691,660	728,656,600	6.9%
2015	4,463,016,500	4,018,202,940	444,813,560	10.0%
2014	5,418,003,580	4,768,524,310	649,479,270	12.0%
2013	4,519,513,030	3,988,908,530	530,604,500	11.7%
2012	3,701,639,500	3,102,301,670	599,337,830	16.2%
2011	5,272,317,240	4,437,123,460	835,193,780	15.8%

❾

Trends

Taxable Values
The Board’s actions to change the values, exemptions and tax areas is relatively minor relative to the total taxable value of the County. Adjustments to the County’s total taxable value by the Board of Equalization have not exceeded 1% in the past 19 years. The 2019 BOE reductions to taxable value totaled 0.47%. While the dollar amount of taxable value reduced by the Board of Equalization is substantial, when considered as a portion of the total taxable value of the County, the effect of the BOE on taxable value is minimal.

Taxable Values
Year	Value before BOE	Value after BOE	Change in Value	Change in %
2019	104,990,493,209	104,500,912,910	$489,580,299	0.47
2018	95,653,137,333	95,026,883,661	$626,253,672	0.65
2017	86,336,774,869	85,801,918,382	$534,856,487	0.62
2016	79,233,595,595	78,583,145,767	$650,449,828	0.82
2015	71,902,752,393	71,628,162,466	$274,589,927	0.38
2014	67,304,452,911	66,998,807,195	$305,645,717	0.45
2013	62,964,220,832	62,599,128,637	$365,092,195	0.58
2012	59,997,122,412	59,620,307,049	$376,815,363	0.63
2011	61,295,708,455	60,919,138,807	$376,569,648	0.61
2010	62,405,817,683	61,943,195,826	$462,621,857	0.74
2009	63,938,904,145	63,504,049,451	$434,854,694	0.68
2008	72,796,328,237	72,326,389,077	$469,939,160	0.65
2007	67,094,657,293	66,749,895,053	$344,762,240	0.51
2006	54,400,703,421	54,150,434,745	$250,268,676	0.46
2005	46,131,197,631	45,954,275,906	$176,921,725	0.38
2004	42,981,245,934	42,772,474,580	$208,771,354	0.49
2003	41,122,748,586	40,852,279,896	$270,468,690	0.66
2002	40,435,737,048	40,047,416,563	$388,320,485	0.96
2001	38,392,790,510	38,160,979,484	$231,811,026	0.6
2000	36,383,002,901	36,186,677,266	$196,325,635	0.54

❿

Trends

Trends

⓫

Trends

Outsized Effects
A small number of appeals over the last six years resulted in the bulk of the change in value. Eight percent of the 2019 appeals were responsible for 87.4% of the total change in value for that year. Only about .47% of the total taxable value was adjusted down through the BOE and virtually all of that reduction in value was due to a handful of appeals.

Appeals with value changes greater than $250,000
Year	Count	% of Total Appeal Count	Amount	% of Total Change in Value
2019	305	8.26%	$464,427,570	87.40%
2018	467	11.38%	$615,671,870	94.15%
2017	409	10.45%	$509,988,440	96.21%
2016	501	8.90%	$602,695,600	82.71%
2015	368	6.23%	$418,759,070	94.14%
2014	524	7.82%	$529,394,360	81.60%
2013	421	6.87%	$445,354,590	83.93%
2012	407	4.80%	$442,489,130	73.82%
2011	608	5.06%	$533,803,290	63.91%

⓬

Trends

A small number of appeals over the last six years resulted in the bulk of the change in value. Eight percent of the 2019 appeals were responsible for 87.4% of the total change in value for that year. Only about .47% of the total taxable value was adjusted down through the BOE and virtually all of that reduction in value was due to a handful of appeals.
Even though the total effect is small, several large appeals can have an effect on a taxing entity’s budget, and tax rates are adjusted up accordingly due to changes in value as a result of the BOE. Another instance where the BOE can have an outsized effect is in Community Reinvestment Areas (formerly known as Redevelopment Agencies). An appeal on a property located in a CRA project area can sometimes greatly affect the amount of tax increment due the CRA for that project area. This happens because project areas often only have a handful of parcels and a reduction in value of one parcel in such an area can have an inflated effect on the value of the project area as a whole.
State Appeals
Even though the trend has been fewer appeals received over the last few years, 404 appellants have appealed the BOE’s decision to the State Tax Commission.
Commission.

⓭

Trends

Appeals Filed by Tax Representatives
As noted earlier, appeals filed by tax representatives has been a decreasing percentage of total appeals over the last few years. However, appeals filed by tax representatives constitute a larger portion of the adjustments than their percentage of total appeals would suggest. For example, in 2019, appeals filed by tax representatives constituted 29% of all appeals, but 47% of the amount ultimately adjusted by the BOE.
This outsized impact could either mean that tax representatives are more effective at successfully appealing values or that taxpayers with higher value properties who are more likely to get larger reductions by virtue of higher starting values are also more likely to hire tax representatives.

⓮

Trends

Tax Rep Impact / Detail
Year	Amount Adjusted	Tax Rep $	%	Owner $	%
2019	$531,398,960	$251,334,450	47.30%	$280,064,510	52.70%
2018	$653,893,900	$319,703,800	48.89%	$334,190,100	51.11%
2017	$526,947,970	$257,521,930	48.87%	$269,426,040	51.13%
2016	$728,626,600	$333,690,240	45.80%	$394,966,360	54.21%
2015	$444,839,260	$262,782,940	59.07%	$182,056,320	40.93%
2014	$648,747,970	$308,094,220	47.49%	$340,653,750	52.51%
2013	$530,623,700	$263,863,910	49.73%	$266,759,790	50.27%
2012	$599,393,530	$231,982,170	38.70%	$367,411,360	61.30%
2011	$835,193,780	$277,825,170	33.26%	$557,368,610	66.74%

⓯

Key Performance Measures

During 2019, the average time from the time an appeal was received to when a decision was mailed out was 92 days. The average time to decision varies greatly depending on the nature of the appeal, ranging from just 21 days to 134 days.
While this is a useful performance measure for the process, it depends on more than just one office, as the Auditor, Council-Tax Administration, and the Assessor work together to process appeals from beginning to end. In future years, we will keep track of office-level data to determine how long appeals spend during each stage of the appeal.
The real measure of our performance is whether we are maintaining the integrity of the process and whether we are treating all taxpayers fairly. While this is much harder to measure, it remains our primary focus.

⓰

Initiatives and Projects to Improve

Paperless Property Tax Appeals
During the 2019 year, the Auditor’s office continued to digitize appeal records during the whole process. This enables other offices to utilize the electronic record as opposed to using the original paper file throughout the year.
Our online appeal filing process continued to be a success, as more taxpayers chose to appeal using this platform. We had very positive feedback from our users. This provided the taxpayer with an alternative way to appeal.
In March of the 2020 our office closed due to COVID-19. The Auditor’s office worked with the Tax Administration and Assessor offices to complete the remaining 2019 appeals in a totally paperless process. The Board completed all appeals before the State Tax Commission deadline.
Enhanced Web Site
The Property Tax website was enhanced to provide a more user-friendly site.
The appeal form was also improved to a more understandable version.
These initiatives ultimately allow us to find efficiencies more easily in the process and allow us to better control the workflow and maintain the data to ensure the integrity of the process. This will also allow us to move into a paperless environment for the 2020 Board.

⓱

Salt Lake County Auditor
Salt Lake County Government Center
2001 South State Street, N3-300
Salt Lake City, UT 84190-1100
(385) 468-7200
(866) 498-4955 fax