Did the Hildale  City Council vote to “triple” the town’s property tax, as reported by ABC 4 news?

Or raise it 237 percent, as reported by Fox 13, adding $550 to the annual property tax bill on an average home?

No and no.

But that didn’t keep those media outlets or, for that matter, Val Oveson — a former Utah tax commissioner who now works for UEP  Trust fiduciary Bruce R. Wisan — from hyping the “enormity” of a recently approved tax increase.

Here’s the real story — and thanks to my colleague Jeremiah Stettler for coming up with a graceful way to explain this year’s property tax calculations.

According to this story, a change in state law requires governments to “account differently for delinquent tax dollars.” Entities that are raising taxes must advertise the rate increase that would be necessary to replace revenue it has not yet collected because of delinquent property tax payments.

The Utah State Tax Commission acknowledged that that made rates look artificially high this year. In Salt Lake County, for example, a proposed increase of up to $2.55  was advertised as being five times larger.

Same thing happened with Hildale, where most property is held communally by the United Effort Plan Trust. The trust has been under court management since 2005 and is overseen by Salt Lake accountant Bruce R. Wisan.

After complying with the new law, Hildale appeared to be imposing a 237 percent tax increase on residents.

In fact, the increase, including new growth, is 51.5 percent, according to Charlie Roberts, Utah Tax Commission spokesman.

On a percentage basis, it is the largest increase in the state. On a dollar basis, it is not.

Jerry Barlow, city manager for Hildale, said that increase will add about $10 a month (or $120 a year) to the average home’s property tax bill. The tax increase will raise $33,000, which the city will split between its police and fire department budgets.

Due to budget shortfalls from lower sales, roads, franchise and property tax revenue, Hildale had to cut about $300,000 from last year’s $1 million budget. This year’s budget, approved by the council last week and including revenue from the tax increase, is $688,000, Barlow said.

Barlow said the advertised tax increase (the 237 percent figure) reflected the increase that would be needed to make up approximately $39,000 in delinquent taxes.

“We need people to pay their taxes on time,” Barlow said. “The people are paying them, they are just paying them late. But that reflects on the rate.”

Oveson, as reported by ABC 4, attended the Hildale City Council meeting last week and objected to the tax increase, which he said made no sense given the high delinquency rate.

Hildale Mayor David Zitting acknowledged that a lot of people in the community aren’t paying their taxes on time — and, as Oveson pointed out, that he was one of them.

“I’ve paid every year on time, but this year I had a little difficulty,” Zitting said. “It is now taken care of. I felt a little disappointed in myself that things kept coming up and I hadn’t taken care of it. I had the full intention of paying [on time] and I should have.”

Many people in town, he said, are struggling because of the economic downturn, which has hit the construction industry particularly hard. “A lot of people work in construction,” Zitting said.

But people also aren’t paying because they are “offended that this private religious property was taken over by the state,” he said. “People are not feeling good about the way things have been handled with this stuff.”

According to the ABC 4 report, Oveson suggested that rather than raising taxes the city should just do away with its police force, which the trust claims isn’t upholding the laws or court orders, and rely on the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement.

Oveson did not return a call or email from The Salt Lake Tribune asking for comment.

Barlow said the city currently budgets $105,000 for its share of police service from the Colorado City Town Marshal’s Office. He said a few years ago the city looked into contracting with Washington County for police service and received a cost quote that was triple what it currently spends.

“I think we’re doing the right thing in providing the police force through an intergovernmental agreement with Colorado City,” he said.

Jake Adams, undersheriff with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, said the county is open to contracting with Hildale and any other town in the county for service but “it does come at a cost.”

“We have not been approached by anyone in Hildale to provide them service,” he said.

Adams said two towns currently have service contracts with the sheriff’s office: Enterprise and Toquerville.

The sheriff’s office provides a school resource officer to Enterprise, which pays one-quarter of the officer’s costs — $17,252. The sheriff covers another quarter and the school pays 50 percent of the cost.

The sheriff’s office provides “a few hours of service” a day to Toquerville, which pays $7,000 for the coverage.