Property taxes in Salt Lake County and cities have skyrocketed. I now have a shortfall in my mortgage escrow account of over $400 plus a $25 per month rise in my payments — that is, if I can come up with the money to pay the shortfall — because of these taxes. I don’t doubt that many other homeowners are receiving a sticker shock in their mortgage payments because of these taxes.
To continue to collect this raise in property taxes is totally unacceptable during this COVID-19 pandemic. People are not working, the $1,200 stimulus doesn't even make or barely makes one monthly payment, and our economy absolutely will not bounce back enough by 2021 for homeowners to play catch-up on their mortgages or to even keep their homes in 2021.
To open our economy, have recovery and to have it resolve in success, these tax raises must be discontinued as long as it takes to give relief to the property taxpayers in Salt Lake County.
I know homeowners are fighting hard to make mortgage payments, are working with the banks and mortgage companies to get through this health and economic crisis. The least this state and its counties can do in this crisis is to give our property owners a break so that they can keep their homes without the extra burden of harsh taxes on their property.
Carol Ann Kent, Sandy