Thursday afternoon, county commissioners and representatives of the Davis School District presented a proposal that would provide a $5.5 million tax abatement to those property owners who saw their valuations jump more than 24 percent this year.

At last week's truth in taxation hearing, county officials got a verbal trouncing from elderly landowners who feared that recent bumps in their assessed property values, combined with last December's 37 percent tax increase, could potentially force them from their homes.

"We had a perfect storm here and have to send out more lifelines," said Commissioner Louenda Downs, who took office in January. "We're committed to these folks and are looking for any way we can make this fair and equitable."

Projected new growth in tax revenue gets budgeted in December but the actual calculations don't come until June, explained Davis County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings.

"Due to unprecedented increases in some residential assessed market values, the district and county have proposed to take the portion of the new growth that was not budgeted and provide the tax abatement," said Bruce Williams, assistant superintendent for the school district.

That unexpected windfall - $1 million for the county and $4.5 million for the school district - would help pay down this year's tax bill for residents who were hit by huge jumps in property values.

The average Davis County homeowner saw a 24 percent increase in value over the past two years. Those beyond that average can expect to get some relief if Thursday's proposal gets officially approved by the commission and the Davis School Board.

For every $20,000 in market value over the 24 percent average increase, there would be a $100 reduction in this year's tax bill due this November.

"This is something we can do," Downs said, explaining that other options were explored, such as a rollback of the recent valuation, but those options fell outside the bounds of state statute.

"There are other things we hope to address that may continue in the long term," said Commissioner Bret Milburn. "That's where the real equity will come."

Milburn hopes the county assessor's office can gear up to re-evaluate all Davis properties every year, rather than doing a section at a time over a five-year period.

In the meantime, Milburn urges residents who believe their valuations are out of line to file appeals by the Sept. 17 deadline and also to apply for the regular tax abatements if they qualify.

The commission and school board are expected to vote on this one-time $5.5 million abatement during their regularly scheduled meetings this Tuesday.

cmckitrick@sltrib.com