During the Carbon County Commission meeting that was hosted on Wednesday evening, the commissioners addressed the review of a letter that was received in June from the Utah State Tax Commission regarding Assessor Gillian Bishop and the assessor’s office.
The letter addressed concerns regarding the office and Assessor Bishop himself, citing that untold county resources have been spent trying to address the problem. The tax shortfall because of the adjustments that have been made are around $38 million, but could be $50 million in lost tax value. It would then be applied to the rate and would be lost revenue to the taxing entities throughout the county, resulting in budgets that will need to be cut or addressed.
It was stated that this is not fair to taxpayers and that some residents recently approached the Board of Equalization to have their taxes adjusted. Others have not, which means that the tax burden is not being fairly shared. The commissioners have reported the problem and are working with the tax commission and Assessor Bishop.
Outside consulting has been hired to train and fix problems in the assessor’s office and the county is in the process of hiring a commercial appraiser. For the past couple of years, the Property Tax Division has attempted to work with him in his management of the office.
According to the State Tax Commission, efforts have not yielded results and they felt that it was time to step in. For the last two years, Assessor Bishop has reportedly waited until the last day to close the rolls. The lack of communication and delayed response times have been stated to be a huge issue. There are also data errors in the 2023 assessment roll.
There were many claims that the commission was unable to confirm in short time frames, though it is believed that the claims should be investigated further. The Carbon County Assessor’s Office is currently in violation for not having designated appraisers on staff. Assessor Bishop was informed last year that they are not in compliance and would need to be certified or contract with a certified appraiser.
It was stated that he did not take necessary actions to comply with the requirement and that he has also operated his own private fee appraisal business. Concerns have been raised about the private business interfering with the success of the assessor’s office, making it a clear conflict of interest.
Following the reading of this letter, another letter was received to give updates. Assessor Bishop had been given orders or expectations, one of which was that he communicates and asks for assistance, which has yet to be determined.
He was also instructed to spend necessary time to better understand and use the tools to assist in his role. This is a work in progress and the State Tax Commission stated that the success will be later determined. In reviewing the 2023 tax role, information has been collected.
To conclude this review, Commission Chair Casey Hopes stated that they took the time to read the letters into place in order to help the community understand that there are issues that are being addressed. He stated that the commissioners cannot solve this problem, as Assessor Bishop is an elected official. Only voters can fix this problem as they must must hold elected officials accountable for their jobs.