The Property Valuation Notice serves several purposes:

• Notifies you of the Assessor’s classification and determination of value on your property.
• Informs you of your right to appeal the Assessor’s classification and determination of fair market value.
• Compares last year’s value and tax to this year.
• Shows the amount of property tax charged by each entity.
• Notifies you of public hearings for taxing entities that plan to increase their tax revenues above the allowed ‘new growth’ amounts.

There are certain things to look for which may help you understand how property taxes are calculated and what you can do to adjust the tax amount you owe. For example:

• The valuation notice will give you a date, time and place for any taxing entity planning to raise their tax rate above what is normally allowed. You can attend these meetings and voice your concerns.
• Every taxing entity has a public hearing each year to set their budget. This budget may affect the amount of property tax you pay. Your attendance at the hearing will help you understand how your tax dollars for that entity are used and will give you the opportunity to ask questions and voice any concerns.
• If you feel that the assessed value of your property is higher than it is worth, you can appeal that value. Submit an appeal application , (one is included with your valuation notice) along with evidence to support your claim of value and file it with the Clerk/Auditor’s Office by the deadline shown on the valuation notice. For more information on appealing property value, please see the following pages:
  • Appeal property value
  • Keys to a successful valuation appeal
  • How property tax works in Utah

Note: There are tax relief programs available for qualified veterans with disabilities, deployed military, elderly or widowed with low income, blind, and those with disabilities and/or extreme hardship. If you fall into any of these categories you may be eligible for a reduction on your property taxes. Information and applications for these Tax Relief programs may be found on the Tax Relief Programs page.

Primary Property: This property is used as a primary residence and is taxed on 55% of the market value shown.

Non-Primary Property: This property not used as a primary residence and is taxed at 100% of the market value.

Greenbelt Property: This property is used for agricultural purposes and is taxed under Greenbelt guidelines. (The actual value used for taxation will be shown in parentheses.)

If the property is a primary residence, even though you do not see the exemption on your valuation notice, the residential exemption has been applied when making the tax calculation. Residential property is taxed on 55% of the market value. This amount, known as the taxable value or assessed value. If it appears that you have not been given the residential reduction and are entitled to it, contact the Weber County Assessor’s Office.

The Valuation Notice does not reflect payments made nor does it show deductions for property tax relief (i.e. Circuit Breaker, Abatement, Blind, Veterans with Disabilities and Deployed Military). This information will be on the Tax Notice. Note: If you have applied for tax relief this year, there is a box at the bottom of the notice that will be checked.

Every taxpayer should receive a valuation notice and a tax notice to inform them of their property value and tax status. If a bank or mortgage company pays your property taxes they will request a copy of your tax bill from the Weber County Treasurer's Office. When you receive your Tax Notice, there is a note which states, “These taxes may be paid by the following mortgage company.” If your mortgage company's name appears in that space they have already requested a copy. If not, you may wish to contact your mortgage company to ask if they will request that information. Some properties may have more than one parcel number (for example, a small strip abutting your main property). Make sure that taxes on these are either paid by you or requested along with your main property by your mortgage company.

Weber County is responsible for notifying you of taxes levied by the various taxing entities, for collecting those taxes, and distributing the funds to the taxing entities. The following is an explanation of the most common taxing entities and what they use your tax money for. If you have additional questions, please contact the taxing entity directly for more detailed information. .

Weber County

Tax money collected for Weber County is used to maintain a number of different programs. In addition to financing the operation of county government, tax dollars are used for libraries, the Health Department, public safety, paramedic service, roads, etc.

Schools

Weber County has two school districts: the Weber School District and the Ogden School District. Depending on your area, you are charged for one or the other to help fund education.

Cities & Towns

If you live within an area that has been incorporated as a city you may be charged a tax for the services provided by that city. For more information regarding services provided by a city you may contact them directly. A list of cities in Weber County can be found at Weber County – Cities and Towns.

Cemetery

Certain areas within Weber County provide a public cemetery. Those citizens living within the cemetery districts are charged a small amount for maintenance. If you have questions about a certain cemetery district you may contact them directly.

Sewer

If you live within the boundaries of a sewer district, you will be assessed a cost for maintaining sewer lines and services. Contact the sewer district shown on your notice if you have questions regarding sewer service.

Water

Everyone in Weber County is charged for Weber Basin Water General. This charge helps pay the cost of collecting and distributing water to the various water districts. If the city in which your property is located has elected to collect a portion of the cost of culinary water through property tax, you will also notice a line item for that charge. Depending on the area in which your property is located, you may be charged a fee for secondary water by the local water district.

Miscellaneous

For a better understanding of any other taxing entities and their functions, please contact those entities directly.

All property owners in the state share in the responsibility of educating our citizens whether you own vacant ground, commercial property or residential property.

Depending on the location of your property, you may have more than one charge for water on your notice. Every property owner in Weber County will have a charge for Weber Basin Water General. If you own property within the boundaries of another water district, you may have a charge for water in that district also. Please see the question about taxing entities and their purposes for a more detailed explanation of those water charges.

Most of the answers to this question can be found under the question about taxing entities and their purposes. If your question is not answered there, we have provided the phone numbers for these entities and you may ask them directly.

This charge is for the evaluating, calculating, billing, collecting and apportioning of property taxes. The State Legislature requires counties to show this levy separately from the normal operating costs of entities to better reflect the cost of general services and not the additional costs incurred from the collection of taxes. There are two separate levies because one is a statewide rate, so all property owners in Utah share a portion of the total statewide cost of assessing and collecting property taxes. This state levy is distributed to counties who do not collect enough revenue from the local levy to cover the costs of assessing and collecting.

A taxing unit is a geographical area. Each area is made up of a number of entities; (i.e. county, city, school, water district, sewer district, etc.) The entities whose boundaries cover your property make up a geographical area known as a taxing unit, which we assign a taxing unit number.

The parcel number is an identification number for your property. The Weber County Recorder/Surveyor’s Office has books showing the dimensions and location of all properties in the county. The first two numbers identify which book your property is in. The next three numbers show the page in that book and the last four numbers identify which parcel on that page. When contacting the county about your property, it helps to have your parcel number for quicker reference. These maps are also available on our Interactive Maps (GIS) page.

Many properties in Weber County do not have addresses. Over the years there have been numerous deeds recorded which transfer only a few feet in someone's back yard to their neighbor which creates a new parcel. Sometimes deeds will not have an accurate description and a small section of a lot must be given a new land serial number but there is no real address which can be attached to that new number. Also, much of the agricultural land is accessed by dirt roads and don't have any street numbers to attach. If there is an address in the Recorder’s ‘Property Address’, it will show on the notice. The county website has a mapping tool that can help you to identify your property location if there is nothing listed on the notice.

The best way to find out where each property is located is to visit the Recorder/Surveyor’s Office or use the Interactive Map tool to look up the location of your property. You can use the Plat Maps or the Geo Gizmo feature. The website also has a lot of other valuable information about your property. It is a good idea to keep a list of your parcel numbers and the location of the property identified by that parcel number for future reference.

Combining two or more properties together is possible in certain cases.

1. The properties must be contiguous. (Next to each other)
2. Ownership records for both pieces must be identical.
3. The properties must be within the same taxing area.

For information on how to combine properties, please contact the Recorder/Surveyor’s Office.

‘wf’ is an abbreviation for wife.
‘hs’ is an abbreviation for husband.
‘etal’ or ‘et al’ is a legal term for ‘and others’. Some properties are recorded with a number of different owners and, due to limited space on the notice, it is not always possible to include all recorded owners. If ‘etal’ appears on your notice after the name, there are other names with recorded ownership on this property. You may contact the Recorder/Surveyor’s Office for a list of all recorded owners on the property.

Due to limited space, and depending on how the deed was recorded, it is not always possible to include all recorded owners on this notice. (See previous question about ‘etal’)

Taxes Last Year - Tax Rate & Tax Amount This lists the tax rate and the amount of taxes charged for last year. Some notices may not have anything in this column. It usually means that the property didn’t exist last year or it may be that there was a change in the legal description.

No Budget Increase – Tax Rate & Tax Amount This reflects the Tax Rate and amount of taxes charged using the Certified Tax Rate which is the maximum amount an entity is allowed to collect this year without going through “Truth in Taxation.” If an entity wants more money than is allowed, they must advertise and hold public hearings to inform the public of the necessity to raise their tax rates above the allowed limit and allow public response. This is called “Truth in Taxation.” (Entities with debt service or general obligation bonds are not subject to Truth in Taxation requirements because the payment of these obligations was already approved by the taxpayer.)

Proposed Budget Amount – Tax Rate & Tax Amount This is the Tax Rate and amount of taxes that an entity is asking for based on their budget needs. If this Proposed Rate exceeds the Certified Rate (see ‘No Budget Increase’ above) the entity must go through a Truth in Taxation process which usually requires a public hearing and approval by the State Tax Commission. The date, place and time of the public hearing will be shown on the notice. As a general rule, this Proposed Amount will be the amount used on the tax notice.

Changes If Proposed Budget Is Approved – Amount & Percent This is the tax amount difference and the percentage of difference between this year’s certified amount and this year’s proposed amount.

Public Hearings For Tax Increase This gives the date, place, and time if an entity is required to hold a Truth In Taxation hearing. (Calendar year entities held theirs at the end of last year and mailed a notice at that time.)

In certain circumstances, taxing entities are allowed to recover lost revenues resulting from large reductions due to local or state appeals. When the state or county reduces the value of these properties due to an appeal or court order, the county is required to recalculate the amount of taxes originally owed by the reduced agency and refund any overpayments. This money is then taken out of each taxing entity’s expected revenue from current property tax distributions. If an entity is eligible to impose a judgement levy to recoup these funds, they must go through the Truth in Taxation process.

Even if you now live in an incorporated area with its own fire service, if your property was originally in the Weber Fire District when the General Obligation Bond Election was passed, it may be subject to that bond until the debt is paid in full.

The bar graph gives a visual representation of how much tax is distributed to individual taxing entities for that parcel. It is included to help you see that, even though the county issues and collects property taxes, we are only a portion of the many entities that actually assess a tax. It also directs you to our website to see a list of all the taxing entities and their phone numbers so that you can contact them if you have questions about a specific entity’s tax.

The Valuation Notice will have a note to the right of your name & address that notifies you if there are delinquent taxes on your property. The Tax Notice you receive in October will also state that prior taxes on the property are delinquent and that a tax sale is pending if the delinquent tax is still unpaid. The amount of the delinquent tax is not included with the total amount of taxes you owe for the current year. If your notice states that taxes are delinquent, you should contact the Treasurer’s Office for information on which years are delinquent and the total amount due.

The date printed by this statement shows the last time the physical components, specific to this property, were updated in the Assessor’s system.

The answer could be one of three reasons:

1. There may have been a problem with the deed that was filed to transfer title of the property, or the deed may never have been recorded.
2. The deed to transfer title may have been recorded after the cutoff date for printing the notice.
3. If a portion of this property was sold, or if there was any change in description (no matter how insignificant that change may have been), the name and address on the notice will show as it appeared on County records as of January 1st of that year.

The most common reason for not receiving a notice is because the Recorder/Surveyor’s Office was not informed of a taxpayer’s new address. Any time you change your mailing address or record a deed, be sure to notify the Recorder/Surveyor’s Office of your new address for each piece of property you own in Weber County. Other reasons may include:

1. A problem with the deed that was filed to transfer title of the property, or the deed may never have been recorded.
2. The deed to transfer title or a change of address card may have been submitted after the cutoff date for printing the notice.
3. If the name or address was changed since the first of this year and a portion of this property was sold, or if there was any change in description, (no matter how insignificant that change may have been), the name and address on the notice will show as it appeared on the records as of January 1st of that year.
4. It may have been lost in the mail. It's rare, but it happens.