Utah Farmland Assessment Act & Urban Farming Assessment Act
Appeal of Application Denial and Rollback Taxes
Application Denial Appeal Greenbelt Rollback Appeal Urban Farming Rollback Appeal

The Board of Equalization hears appeals from property owners who feel the Assessor's office incorrectly denied their application to have their property assessed as either Greenbelt or Urban Farming and/or withdrew their property and assessed the rollback tax.

ALL APPEALS MUST BE FILED NO LATER THAN 45 DAYS FROM DATE LISTED ON THE DENIAL NOTICE SENT BY THE UTAH COUNTY ASSESSOR. The 45 day window is a hard deadline as enforced by UCA 59-2-516 for Greenbelt or 59-2-1713 for Urban Farming. Any appeal filed after 45 days cannot be accepted by the Utah County Board of Equalization. Late appeals must be filed with the Utah State Tax Commission and the appellant must show that the county denied an appellant due process through some fault of the county. Other extenuating circumstances for missing the filing deadline cannot be considered.

Individuals with questions about the Farmland Assessment Act (Greenbelt), the Urban Farming Assessment Act, or how rollback taxes are calculated should contact the Utah County Assessor’s office

Farmland Assessment (Greenbelt)

The Utah Farmland Assessment Act, often referred to as the "Greenbelt" law, is a law passed by the State of Utah in 1969. Prior to 1969, Utah farmland was assessed and taxed according to its market value. However, as Utah population centers began to expand into the surrounding agricultural property, the market value of agricultural property began to rise.

This increased market value produced property taxes that made some farming operations economically prohibitive. In 1969, the Utah Legislature passed the Utah Farmland Assessment Act, which provided for qualified agricultural property to be assessed and taxed on its productive value instead of its market value. The Farmland Assessment Act is found in the following body of Utah State Law:

Urban Farming

Small-scale urban farming has become more common in recent years a result of rapidly increasing population growth and urban development throughout Utah. In addition, only 3% of fruit and 2% of vegetables needed to sustain the population are locally produced and small-scale urban agriculture plays a vital role in the local food system (Kurtz, J.E. et al., 2020).

The Urban Farming Act was established in 2012 to help small-acreage property owners receive a tax benefit for cultivating food and other marketable crops. The Urban Farming Assessment Act is found in the following body of Utah State Law: