Chris Stavros

The Assessor does not vote on the council. The record below covers office budget, staffing, and oversight.

County candidates file with the County Clerk through EasyVote under County Ordinance 2.72A. Citation link: EasyVote public portal. The filer is listed as "Stavros, Christopher." Figures below are OCR'd from the redacted PDFs and should be spot-checked against the portal.

• 2024 cycle aggregate: $123,659.26 raised and $116,279.25 spent (YE2024 summary page).
• Candidate loans: Itemized schedules show loans from the candidate to his campaign of $15,000 (4/22/24), $9,000 (6/27/24), $5,000 (7/26/24), and $70,000 (9/18/24), totaling about $99,000. That is roughly 80% of 2024 receipts.
• Largest vendor: Majority Strategies, a political consulting and ad firm, was paid $94,025.97 (9/25/24) for digital ads, mass texts, and mail.
• Other notable contributors: Salt Lake County Republican Party ($3,500); Council Member Aimee Winder Newton ($1,000, 5/1/24).
• 2020 cycle: Reports predate the EasyVote records retrieved (the portal's records start in 2022). See Gaps.
• State filings (disclosures.utah.gov): Not applicable. County offices file with the County Clerk.

• The 2026 Annual Conflict of Interest Disclosure (Utah Code §17-70-304) was signed 01/20/2026. It lists:

  • employer: Salt Lake County (Assessor)
  • no owned entities
  • no outside income of $5,000 or more
  • no stock holdings of $5,000 or more
  • no board positions
  • no real-property conflicts

  PDF

• A 2025 disclosure is also on file. PDF. Index: Clerk disclosures page

Context: The predecessor, Kevin Jacobs, was appointed in 2013 after Lee Gardner resigned. The 2014 assessor term was a one-time six-year term (2015–2020) under the county's term-alignment law. (Salt Lake Tribune archive)

• County Auditor: Audit of Assessor's Office Payroll (June 2024). Scope was Sep 1, 2021–Aug 31, 2022; it was expanded after two August 2023 fraud-hotline tips about remote work. The audit made 7 findings and 20 recommendations:

  • a terminated employee was overpaid $2,163 (net)
  • one required background check was missing
  • remote-work and vehicle-use controls were weak
  • 204 of 7,349 timecard transactions were not approved

  Report

• Preliminary follow-up (Sep 16, 2025): 14 of 20 recommendations implemented. Report

• Secondary follow-up (Aug 24, 2026): all 20 recommendations implemented. Report

• No State Auditor reports or official ethics complaints naming the Assessor or his office were found.

• No public lobbyist ties were found.

Tenure and professional background (official bio)

• He has worked in the Assessor's Office since 1993, as a hearing officer, residential appraiser, and statistical coordinator. He became director of the Statistical Department in 2010, director of the Residential Division in 2014, and Chief Deputy Assessor on June 1, 2017. (official bio)
• He is a state-certified residential appraiser and holds ad valorem designations. He lists IAAO and Utah Association of Assessing Officers involvement. (official bio)
• Council file 24-1732 (Jun 4, 2024) appointed him to the county's Internal Fleet Management Board. (Legistar)

• Assessor's Office, 2001 S State St, Salt Lake City, UT 84190
• Phone: 385-468-8000
• Email: assessor@saltlakecounty.gov
• Source: saltlakecounty.gov/assessor

Gaps

• 2020-cycle campaign finance reports, which predate the EasyVote records retrieved. GRAMA: County Clerk, Elections Division.
• Assessor's Office organization chart, position list, and appraiser certification roster. GRAMA: Assessor's Office / Mayor's Finance (HR).
• Board of Equalization appeal volumes and outcomes by year. GRAMA: County Council (BOE clerk) / Assessor.
• Payroll-audit workpapers and fraud-hotline case disposition. GRAMA: County Auditor (may be protected under GRAMA §63G-2-305).
• Full contributor lists were OCR'd only for pages 1–4 of each report. Pull the full PDFs from EasyVote to verify.

The full-time elected official who sets the market value of every taxable property in the county each year (homes, businesses, land, business equipment and some vehicles). The Assessor does not set tax rates or send bills.

Role

Countywide property valuation officer; must be a state-licensed or state-certified appraiser

Hours

Full-time

Pay

$197,058

Typical week

Leading about 105 staff through a fixed yearly calendar: Jan. 1 valuation date, tax roll due May 22, appeals from August, Board of Equalization hearings into winter

Responsibilities and powers

• Values all locally assessed property. "The county assessor shall assess all property located within the county which is not required by law to be assessed by the commission" (Utah Code 59-2-301). The State Tax Commission values utilities, mines, airlines and similar property; the county values the rest (SLCo Assessor FAQ).
• Fair market value as of January 1. Property is valued "on the basis of its fair market value, as valued on January 1." A primary residence gets a 45% residential exemption, so it is taxed on 55% of market value (Utah Code 59-2-103).
• Before May 22 each year, the assessor must identify the owners of all taxable property, value it to the owner of record as of midnight Jan. 1, and complete and deliver the tax roll (the statute calls it the "book") to the County Auditor, with a sworn statement that values are equal, uniform and at fair market value (59-2-303; 59-2-311). A preliminary roll goes to the State Tax Commission by May 15 (59-2-311(4)).
• Annual mass appraisal plus a five-year review. Values must be updated every year "based on a systematic review of current market data" using a computer-assisted mass appraisal system certified with the Tax Commission. Every parcel's characteristics must get a detailed review at least once every five years, under a published five-year plan (59-2-303.1).
• Personal property and collections. Values business personal property (equipment, mobile homes, aircraft) and collects those taxes, along with the tax-collection duties in Title 59, Chapter 2, Part 13 that are not assigned to the Treasurer (Utah Code 17-67-301; SLCo Business Personal Property).
• Keeps appraisers credentialed. Anyone appraising real property for the tax roll must hold a state appraiser license or certificate, or be a registered trainee working under one, and the assessor must keep the office in compliance (59-2-701).
• What the Assessor does not do: "Rates are not set by the County Assessor." Each taxing entity's budget drives its rate through the Truth in Taxation process (SLCo Assessor FAQ). Bills are sent and collected by the Treasurer.
• Elected countywide to a four-year partisan term. The current term is 2025–2028; the next election is Nov 7, 2028, with filing in early January 2028 [COMPUTED].

Who does the appraisal work (staff and divisions)

• About 105 FTEs in the Assessor's office (SLCo FTE table, org 73000000). 2026 budget: $19.5 million (2025: $19.1M; 2024 actual: $17.9M) (Budget in Brief p.14).
• Divisions: Residential Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate, Business Personal Property, Greenbelt (farmland), GIS, and Motor Vehicle (SLCo Assessor departments).
• How the work is organized: appraisers are assigned to specific economic or market areas for consistent data collection; a statistical department values more than 290,000 residential properties each year with regression models and runs the annual sales ratio study and audit with the Tax Commission (the incumbent's official biography, SLCo Assessor).
• How close values are to sale prices: the Tax Commission's 2026 sales ratio study (2025 sales) found Salt Lake County's residential values at a median of 99.5% of sale prices across 10,435 sales, with a coefficient of dispersion of 4.25 (Tax Commission 2026 study, Table 1).
• Credentials on staff: real-property appraisers must be licensed, certified, or registered trainees (59-2-701); the Tax Commission may add requirements, such as its Ad Valorem designations, which the incumbent holds (SLCo Assessor bio).

The Assessor's role at the Board of Equalization

• The County Council is the Board of Equalization (BOE), the Auditor is its clerk, Council-Tax Administration staffs it, and the District Attorney is its lawyer (59-2-1001; SLCo Tax Administration).
• The Assessor "establishes the original valuation and may be required to attend the hearings and to provide testimony and evidence in defense of any valuation under appeal," may meet informally with owners and recommend value changes to the board, and collects personal-property taxes as the board decides (SLCo Tax Administration). By statute the assessor or a deputy must be present when needed and may introduce and examine witnesses (59-2-1001(5)).
• The board may not use anyone employed by the Assessor's office as a hearing officer (59-2-1001(3)(d)).
• Deadlines that bind the Assessor: owners may appeal by Sept. 15 or 45 days after the valuation notice, whichever is later; for property appealed the year before, the Assessor must report its "inflation adjusted value" within 15 business days of a new appeal; the board must decide each appeal within 60 days unless the Tax Commission extends it (59-2-1004).
• "The Assessor's value is presumed to be correct under state law," so owners must bring evidence (SLCo appeal page). Board decisions can be appealed to the State Tax Commission.
• In 2026 the BOE took appeals from July 31 to Sept. 15, and BOE sessions are on the council's calendar from January through December (SLCo Tax Administration; SLCo meeting calendar).

The property tax calendar (Salt Lake County)

A typical week (by season)

• Jan–May [INFERRED from the statutory deadlines above]: valuation season. Reviewing market models and the year's sales with the residential, commercial and statistical teams, overseeing the five-year field-review plan, and signing off on the roll by May 22.
• June–July [INFERRED]: answering questions from cities, school districts and the Tax Commission as rates are set; preparing for the valuation notices mailed by July 22.
• Aug–Sept: peak public contact. The office invites owners "year round to meet informally with staff, to correct errors in property characteristics and to discuss valuation issues" (SLCo Assessor FAQ), and appeals open Aug 1.
• Oct–Mar: Board of Equalization hearings and Tax Commission appeals, where the Assessor's appraisers defend values (2026 BOE sessions on the county calendar run Jan–June and Sept–Dec).
• All year [INFERRED]: managing about 105 staff, the office budget and technology (the mass appraisal system), meeting the Tax Commission's standards, and working with the Recorder (ownership changes) and Treasurer (bills).

Time commitment

• Full-time. The sworn May 22 deadline and the appeal deadlines make it a year-round management job [INFERRED].

Qualification: state appraiser license required before filing

• To file for Assessor, a candidate must already be a state-licensed or state-certified appraiser. The exception that lets a non-appraiser file and become certified within 36 months applies only to 4th–6th class counties, and only when no appraiser files in the first three days (Utah Code 17-67-201, effective May 6, 2026). Salt Lake County is a first-class county (17-60-104), so the exception does not apply. A registered trainee does not qualify.
• An Assessor who stops meeting the requirement vacates the office (17-67-201(2)).
• General county-office requirements also apply: U.S. citizen, county resident for one year as of election day, registered voter (17-66-201).
• How the license works in Utah (Utah Division of Real Estate). Utah requires a step-by-step path: Trainee, then Licensed, then Certified (DRE qualifying education).
  1. Register as an Appraiser Trainee: 87 hours of approved education (Basic Appraisal Principles 30, Basic Appraisal Procedures 30, National USPAP 15, Valuation Bias and Fair Housing 8, Supervisory Appraiser and Trainee course 4), a supervising Certified Residential or Certified General appraiser, fingerprints and a background check, and a $145 fee (DRE Trainee). Experience counts only while registered as a trainee.
  2. Become a Licensed Appraiser (the minimum credential that qualifies a candidate to file): 75 more hours of education (162 total), at least 1,000 experience hours accumulated over six months to five years as a trainee (fee or mass-appraisal experience logs; residential trainees must be accompanied by the supervisor on the first 35 inspections), or completion of a Licensed Appraiser PAREA module; then apply ($250) and pass the Licensed Appraiser exam (DRE Licensed Appraiser).
  3. Certified Residential (optional; the incumbent's credential): more education, 30 college credit hours in specified subjects (or an experience opt-out for appraisers licensed five years), 1,500 experience hours including at least 500 hours over six months as a Licensed Appraiser (DRE Qualifications).
• Timeline [COMPUTED]: the 2028 county filing window is expected to be Jan 3–7, 2028 (Utah Code 20A-9-201.5). The rules require at least six months of trainee experience, so a candidate must register as a trainee, with a supervisor, well before mid-2027 to have any chance of holding a license by the filing window. Exam scheduling and the Division's review of sample appraisals add more time.

Pay

• $197,058 a year (2026), about $66.3k in benefits; 2025 total compensation $263,366 ($197,031 wages + $66,335 benefits) (SLCo pay schedule, p.48; Transparent Utah 2025).

Sources

• Utah Code 17-67-201, 17-67-301
• Utah Code 59-2-301, 59-2-303, 59-2-303.1, 59-2-311, 59-2-701, 59-2-1001, 59-2-1004
• SLCo Assessor, Assessor dates and deadlines, Property Tax dates and deadlines
• Utah Division of Real Estate: appraiser licensing
• Utah State Tax Commission 2026 sales ratio study

Compare with every office →

• Assessor bio saltlakecounty.gov
• 2026 Adopted Budget in Brief, p.3 saltlakecounty.gov
• 2020 general results saltlakecounty.gov
• Utah Code Title 20A le.utah.gov
• Utah Code 17-67-201 le.utah.gov
• 2026 Adopted Budget, "Salaries for Elected Officers," p.49 saltlakecounty.gov
• Legistar slco.legistar.com
• 2024 certification saltlakecounty.gov
• EasyVote saltlakecountyut.easyvotecampaignfinance.com
• saltlakecounty.gov/assessor saltlakecounty.gov
• PDF saltlakecounty.gov
• PDF saltlakecounty.gov
• Clerk disclosures page saltlakecounty.gov
• 2024 SRS (PDF) files.tax.utah.gov
• KSL election-night report ksl.com
• Salt Lake Tribune archive archive.sltrib.com
• Report saltlakecounty.gov
• Report saltlakecounty.gov
• Report saltlakecounty.gov