The Utah State Tax Commission has denied requests for property tax hikes from 35 cities, school districts and other entities, which collectively sought to raise nearly $50 million in property tax revenue.
KSL.com reports the commission rejected the fiscal year 2026 increases being proposed by 18 cities, six towns, six school districts and five other taxing entities. However, property tax hikes were approved for 28 other cities, school districts, and other taxing units.
The rejected property tax hikes ranged from $290 from the town of Leamington in Millard County to $17.8 million from the Granite School District in Salt Lake County. The six school districts were seeking a combined total $41.67 million.
The rejections were based on compliance with guidelines included in new legislation that went into effect earlier this year. Under these guidelines, all taxing entities must follow specific rules and procedures, and their requests for a property tax hike can be denied by the state if there isn’t full compliance with the guidelines.
Jason Gardner, a spokesman for the tax commission, noted that the 35 taxing entities whose requests were rejected can still collect taxes, but not at the higher level they were seeking.
“This is just saying they can’t raise taxes,” he said.
The property tax hikes are forcing senior citizens out of their homes that they have lived in for many years. Cities are going to have to learn to live within their means and stop raising taxes every year! Too much wasted spending for stupid things like over planting of flowers and shrubs at round -abouts. Then they cause more maintenance workers to have to take care of them raising labor costs.
These fancy schools they are buildings and stadiums with state of the art equipment are costing tax payers millions of dollars as well. We don’t need all the frills- we can’t afford them! Tighten the budget!