Editor:

Property taxes in the state of Wyoming are based on the market. So when we have five or more sales within a neighborhood that indicate our values are low compared to what they are selling for, we are required to put a market adjustment on the neighborhoods where the homes are located.

This, in turn, is driving up the market in Uinta County. Therefore, the assessed value has gone up, and so have your taxes. This is difficult for the residents of the county who have no interest in selling their homes.

Currently, there have been entities that are pushing for signatures to reenact the Homestead Exemption. They are promising to lower your property taxes by 50%. The criteria for this is that you have to have owned your home for at least one year and have been residing in your home for at least six months.

This would exempt the people’s homes that drove up the market in the first place.

If our assessed value is decreased by 50%, what services provided by the municipalities, the county, fire departments, schools, weed and pest control, etc. will be cut? These entities depend on local property taxes to meet their budgets for the year.

If we have a hard winter as we did last year, will the cities and county plow our roads? If the money is not there for them to pay for the fuel or personnel to run the equipment, we will not get that service.

Before you sign a document to decrease your property taxes by 50%, ask yourself what services you can do without.

For more information, please contact the Uinta County Assessor’s Office at 307-783-0338.

Lori Perkins

Uinta County Assessor