Meet Chris Stavros
Current Salt Lake County Assessor
I was born in Salt Lake City and raised in Sandy, Utah. I attended Brighton High School before moving on to Westminster College. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Westminster College. Currently, I reside in Salt Lake County with my wonderful and talented wife Annette Stavros who is a dedicated and hardworking sixth grade teacher for Jordan School District.
I began my appraisal career in 1993 when I was hired as a Hearing Officer for the Board of Equalization specifically the Tax Administration Division of Salt Lake County. Shortly after, I took a job as a residential appraiser for the Salt Lake County Assessor’s Office. During my time as a residential appraiser, I gained valuable appraisal experience attending hearings at the local Board of Equalization as well as the Utah State Tax Commission.
Chris Stavros has the Proven Leadership, Integrity, Experience and the passion to continue as the Salt Lake County Assessor.
After several years as an appraiser, I was promoted to a Statistical Coordinator position. This position involved assisting in the development and implementation of multiple regression models for the valuation of residential properties located in Salt Lake County. Regression Modeling is a widely known and accepted mass appraisal technique utilized to determine the market value for vacant land, residential and commercial properties.
After several years as a Statistical Coordinator, I was promoted to a Residential Appraisal Manager position. In 2010, I accepted a position as the Division Director for the Statistical Department of the Assessor’s Office. This department was responsible for valuing over 300,000 residential properties on an annual basis. In addition, this position also involved conducting the annual sales ratio study and audit with the Utah State Tax Commission. The Utah State Tax Commission is the regulatory agency that monitors all the counties throughout the state of Utah to make sure that their valuations are in compliance with all of the recognized and adopted statistical guidelines and standards established by the Utah State Tax Commission.
In 2014, I was promoted to oversee the Residential Appraisal Division. During my time as Residential Division Director, I played an integral role in reorganizing the office structure completely. We assigned appraisers to specific economic or market areas for the purpose of establishing standards and consistent methodologies for data collection. In addition, I worked closely with former Salt Lake County Assessor Kevin Jacobs on streamlining and simplifying the appeal process at all levels. We initiated a very successful appeal mediation program with the Utah State Tax Commission which has resulted in a dramatic reduction of property tax appeals to historically low levels.
After serving in numerous positions for the Salt Lake County Assessor’s Office, I accepted the appointment of Chief Deputy Assessor on June 1, 2017. As Chief Deputy Assessor, I oversaw, monitored, and managed all of the departments of the office including the residential, commercial, and personal property divisions.
I am a Certified Residential Appraiser in the state of Utah. In addition, I have earned the Ad Valorem Residential and Ad Valorem General Real Property Appraisal designations from the Utah State Tax Commission. These appraisal designations allow me to appraise all types of property for tax purposes. In addition, I have served as the President of the Utah Chapter of the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) as well as a UAA (Utah Association of Appraisers) board member.
It has been an honor and a privedge serving the wonderful citizens of Salt Lake County the last three years as their Salt Lake County Assessor. I want the citizens to know that I take my responsibility and obligation to them very seriously. I believe that creating accurate, fair, equitable, and uniform assessments for every property is an important and critical function to all of us. I never want any taxpayer to pay the wrong amount of taxes because we valued their property incorrectly. Accurate, equitable, uniform, and fair valuations for all categories of property help ensure that the distribution of property values and ultimately property tax dollars are distributed more accurately and fairly among all property types in Salt Lake County.
During the last three years, I have accomplished a lot as your Assessor and collectively we have made tremendous progress with the help of my wonderful staff. Although, I am never satisfied and there is important work still to be done. I will continue to work tirelessly every day to improve the office going foward. I would be grateful to have the opportunity to finish the job that I was elected to do.
As Assessor, and with your continued support and vote, I will continue to strive every day to provide the highest level of quality and service to all of the citizens and taxpayers of Salt Lake County.
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