Your Property Tax, Explained
Truth-in-Taxation Public Hearing on August 6, 2026, at 6 PM
Your Property Tax,
Explained
Where every dollar of an Eagle Mountain property tax bill goes, how the city’s levy has changed over 30 years, and what the proposed 2026 public-safety increase means for your household.
Estimate Your Property Tax
CalculatorEnter your home’s market value to estimate the Eagle Mountain city portion of your bill, today and under the proposed 2026 increase. Estimates assume an owner-occupied primary residence, taxed on 55% of market value under Utah’s residential exemption.
Where Your Tax Dollars Go
$488K average homeAn Eagle Mountain property tax bill funds six different entities. Here is the full annual breakdown for the average-value Eagle Mountain residence of $488,000 if the proposed 2026 rates are adopted (primary residence, taxed on 55% of market value under Utah’s residential exemption; figures rounded to the nearest dollar). Two of the six entities have proposed increases this year, highlighted below: Eagle Mountain City and Central Utah Water Conservancy. Both hold public hearings in August; see the Utah County combined notice. Rates shown are the official 2026 rates for Tax Area 038, which covers the typical Eagle Mountain residence; rates can vary slightly by tax area.
The Simple Math
Public Safety ContractEagle Mountain’s law enforcement is provided through a contract with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, and 100% of the city’s property tax goes to public safety. At the Auditor’s certified rate, property tax revenue does not cover the current Sheriff’s Office contract, let alone the new positions and the new total contract. The proposed rate changes that, and it comes down to three numbers:
= $9,798,139 Sheriff’s Office contract
The 2026 Public Safety Proposal
100% Public SafetyThe proposed tax increase would fund seven new positions, one sergeant and six deputies, and meet the Sheriff’s Office contract dollar for dollar. It ties public safety to the city’s most stable source of revenue: property taxes. The proposal is not final until adopted after the August 6 public hearing; see Make Your Voice Heard below for ways to participate.
Your Notice of Valuation and Tax Change shows this proposal as a 220.88% increase, and that number is accurate. It looks dramatic because the starting point is so small: Eagle Mountain has not raised its city levy in 15 years, and growth pushed the rate steadily down over that period. In dollars, it means the city portion on the average $488,000 home goes from $142.25 to $456.28 per year, about $26 more per month.
Eagle Mountain’s Property Tax Story
1996–2026Eagle Mountain is one of the fastest-growing cities in Utah history, incorporated in 1996 with 250 residents and now 76,695 residents as of January 2026. That growth fundamentally shaped the city’s property tax story, allowing rates to fall dramatically even as the city built its infrastructure from scratch.
Rate Decline vs. Population Growth
Inverse relationshipEagle Mountain’s story in one chart: as the population grew from a few hundred residents to more than 76,695, new construction expanded the tax base and the certified levy rate fell. Growth, not rate increases, carried the city’s budget for 15 years.
Notable Milestones
1996–2026Eagle Mountain incorporates with ~250 residents, one of Utah’s first planned-before-incorporated communities. The initial city levy reflected the small early tax base.
Reclassified as a city after population reaches 2,157. Rapid residential build-out spreads infrastructure costs across more taxpayers, driving the certified levy steadily downward.
First Truth-in-Taxation hearing. The city raised its certified rate to support essential services as Eagle Mountain rapidly expanded its infrastructure footprint.
Second and most recent Truth-in-Taxation increase. The Great Recession had slowed new construction, briefly reducing the new-growth revenue that normally absorbs the city’s budget needs.
Property taxes drop 16% as Unified Fire Authority comes on. When fire service moved to UFA, the city reduced its certified tax rate from 0.001559 to 0.001380, an 11.5% decrease.
Population reaches 32,179. Continued residential growth drives the certified rate steadily lower, below the pre-2010 rate even after accounting for the 2010 increase.
2020 Census records 43,623 residents. Eagle Mountain ranks among the fastest-growing cities in Utah. The rate continues drifting lower as new construction expands the tax base.
Population reaches 76,695. Eagle Mountain has gone 15 years without a Truth-in-Taxation increase. The August 6 hearing will consider the first rate increase since 2010, dedicated entirely to public safety.
Make Your Voice Heard
Truth in TaxationThere are three ways to weigh in:
- Thursday, August 6 @ 6 PM
- Tuesday, August 18 @ 7 PM
- City Hall Council Chambers
- 1650 Stagecoach Run
You can join the August 6 hearing virtually:
Submit written input through the public comment form, email the Mayor & City Council, or call the city at 801-789-6600.
If the Council adopts the proposal in August, the change appears on the official property tax notice Utah County mails this fall.