What I have accomplished
as your Salt Lake County Assessor

During my first three years as Salt Lake County Assessor,  I have made a lot of progress and positive change with the help of my outstanding staff.  While I am very proud of what I have accomplished as Assessor, I am never satisfied and there is still work to be done.  

Under my leadership as your SL County Assessor, our office is now among the nations leaders regarding our success in mass appraisal.  The Assessor’s Office, under my supervision, has become the standard and the leader in the state of Utah for valuation, multiple regression modeling, and commercial valuation.  Our office is at the “Cutting Edge” of valuation methodologies for residential, commercial, as well as vacant land.  

In fact, we are the only county in the state and one of the few in the nation that value commercial properties utilizing Income Regression Models. In addition, we have successfully developed and implemented very accurate multiple regression models utilized to value residential and condominiums.  

Most importantly, these advanced valuation techniques result in more accurate, fair, uniform, and equitable valuations for all taxpayers.  It is very important  to understand that it is very critical to produce accurate, fair, and equitable valuations for all categories of property to help mitigate and avoid unfair tax shifts for all taxpayers. I want the taxpayers to know that I take my responsibility and obligation to them very seriously.  I have run the office very efficiently and effectively while always protecting and respecting tax dollars.  

During the last three years, I have worked tirelessly with my staff to dramatically reduce repeat property tax appeals, as well as reduce the overall property tax appeal rate.  I am very proud of what I have accomplished with the help of my wonderful staff.  Under my leadership, we have reduced  property valuation/tax appeals to “Historically Low Levels”.  In fact, in 2021, 2022, 2023, under my supervision, the Salt Lake County Assessor’s Office has successfully reduced property valuation appeals to the lowest levels in over 40 years.  To put that into proper perspective, my office under my leadership, currently has lowered the appeal rate to less than 1% of the total parcel count, which is now over 387,000 parcels.  Our current appeal rate is exceptional and will match or exceed any jurisdiction in the nation.  We have reduced property valuation appeals to “Historic Levels” by having “Lazer Focus” on repeat appeals and appeals in general.  Our mission in the office and my vision has always been that I never want any taxpayer to pay the wrong amount of taxes because we valued their property wrong.  

As your assessor,  I have taken the Assessor’s Office to the next level with regard to the use of technology.  We have gained efficiencies, economics of scale, and maximized productivity while always staying “Under Budget”.  I am the current Chair of Salt Lake County’s Technology Advisory Board.  As the chair of this committee, I have worked closely with IT and county leadership to implement new technology and appraisal tools that have resulted in more accurate valuations and efficiencies in the office while always protecting taxpayer dollars and staying under budget.  Under my leadership, we have partnered with the Surveyor’s Office to obtain aerial photography for both offices.  This partnership has been a huge success and it has produced high resolution oblique, and orthogonal images for both offices and more importantly has saved the county money.  These images have facilitated our appraisers, the Surveyor, as well as many other agencies throughout Salt Lake County government.  In addition, we have implemented GIS (Geographic Information Services), SPSS, and Prognose, which are “state of the art” valuation programs. In addition,  we have updated the Assessor’s Office website in order to facilitate and improve the overall taxpayer experience.  I am proud to report that our website is the most visited website in Salt Lake County government.  

As your Salt Lake County Assessor, I have made the Assessor’s Office more efficient, more transparent, more accountable, and more productive, and I have worked diligently to improve customer service in our office, as well as the tax system as a whole.

Last year, Utah State Auditor John “Frugal” Dougall conducted an audit of every county assessor in the state of Utah.  My office received many accolades and high praise for a job well done as well as working closely with the State Auditor to dramatically improve the transparency of assessment processes in every county in Utah.  

In a news release on July 26, 2023 Auditor Dougall communicated high praise for me as the Salt Lake County Assessor, as well as the work accomplished by my office.  Auditor Dougall stated, “We appreciate the support of the many dedicated and hard working county assessors and their interest in greater transparency.”  

Auditor Dougall also stated, “I’d especially like to thank Chris Stavros, Salt Lake County Assessor, for his excellent feedback, responsiveness in sending and improving data, and his vision for how greater transparency can improve county assessement processes.”  

I want the citizens of Salt Lake County to know that I have worked very hard and led out the last three years educating the Mayor, County Council, as well as many other lawmakers throughout the state about the implications and reality of tax burden shifts.  I have worked tirelessly every year at the legislature trying to protect taxpayers from unfair tax shifts.  I have opposed any legislation that has created an unfair tax burden on the citizens of Salt Lake County.  I have also supported legislation that is “sound fundamental tax policy” that doesn’t exacerbate unfair tax shifts on the taxpayers.  Unfortunately, the tax burden on homeowners has increased from 50% in 2018 of the total property tax liability to 56% in 2023.  Market conditions, as well as legislation have contributed to this disturbing trend.  In 2022, the residential real estate market increased nearly 30% year over year.  In contrast, the commercial real estate market increased 12% overall.  The dynamics of the real estate market change constantly and we cannot predict or control the future.  Although, we can work hard to make sure that we don’t allow legislation to be enacted that exacerbates unfair shifts in the property tax burden.  

As your Assessor, I am working tirelessly to do everything that I possibly can to help prevent and mitigate unfair shifts in the tax burden to the citizens of this wonderful county.  

How your Assessor is helping to mitigate tax shifts

Under my leadership, the Salt Lake County Assessor’s Office is now the standard for mass appraisal and at the “Cutting Edge” of assessment/valuation for residential and commerical properties.  As your Assessor, I have worked hard to make sure that all categories of property are at Fair Market Value every year.  Having all property types at Fair Market Value every year helps ensure the distribution of value and ultimately property tax dollars are distributed accurately, uniformly, and equitably among every category of property.  I am very proud of the work that I have done in the Assessor’s Office to help mitigate unfair tax shifts to the public. In addition, I have hosted training sessions at my office for the benefit of other assessor offices.  Everyone benefits when every county has their valuations at market value every year.  As I mentioned earlier, I have also worked very hard on the hill opposing any bill that exacerbates unfair tax shifts on the citizens.  I also support legislation that prevents unfair tax burden shifts from occuring.  

Bottomline, if our valuation is wrong, we will fix it.  I never want any taxpayer to pay the wrong amount of taxes because we got their valuation incorrect.  Although, if our value is correct it is very important to the taxpayers that we defend the value at every level of appeal.  Whenever a valuation is lowered erroneously without proper market justification, it shifts the burden unfairly to other taxpayers.  I want the citizens to know that it is critical that my office “holds the line” on precedent setting appeals at every level including the Utah State Tax Commission, Third District Court, as well as the Utah Supreme Court in order to prevent unfair shifts in the tax burden for all taxpayers.  

As long as I am Assessor, I will always remember who we work for and that is the citizens of SL County.  I want the citizens to know that their Asseessor takes his obligation and responsibilities  to the taxpayers very seriously.  I will continue to work to protect the taxpayers.  I genuinely care about the citizens that I serve.  As a public servant, I passionately believe that the citizens of Salt Lake County deserve the highest level of service and nothing less.  As a fiscal conservative, I will always respect and protect taxpayer dollars.  Being your Assessor the last three years has truly been an honor and a privilege of a lifetime.  A vote for Chris Stavros is a vote for continued progress, consistency, stability, as well as continued performance and results.  I have a strong and proven track record of performance as your Salt Lake County Assessor.  I have the proven leadership, integrity, experience, qualifications, and knowledge to continue to ensure the highest level of service, transparency, and performance to the citizens.  I would appreciate your support and your vote on November 5, 2024.  I would be honored to continue as your Assessor and I would be grateful to have the opportunity to serve another term and finish the job that I was elected to do.