So now many of us have been stuck with a significantly higher property tax bill. We are certain of two things in life, and I won’t bother discussing the first, at least this time around.
Many of us have been more than a little dismayed at our final municipal tax bill. I understand that there was some wailing and gnashing of teeth about this unpleasant surprise at recent city council meetings.
We were promised in recent years that municipal taxes would be fairer, and that for highly taxed properties they would actually decrease. As quoted by The Reminder, Mark Kolt, the city chief administrative officer, provided an excellent explanation of the difficulty city council has in arriving at a decision to determine the mill rate for each year based on the way property values are calculated by the provincial government.
Last year I appealed my property assessment when the government assessment expert was in town. I had two questions: Why had the value of my property gone up significantly when I had not done any substantial work to improve it? And how, in detail, had they calculated the increased value of my property?
The reply to the first question was that similar houses in my neighbourhood had sold recently for significantly higher than previously assessed values, so my house has to have increased in value at a similar rate.
No hard information was provided. I pointed out there are no houses in my area that are similar to mine. As for the detailed calculation that I requested, showing how the assessed value of my house was determined, I’m still waiting for an answer.
I spoke with a realtor recently, a person who has performed many residential valuations, and his observation was that it appeared that valuations are based essentially on a combination of some of the mystical arts and divination.
It doesn’t help that the assessor doesn’t live in our community (they are based in Thompson), that the rules come out of the Assessment Branch of the Indigenous and Municipal Services ministry in Winnipeg, and no calculations or detailed explanations for valuations are provided.
City council is caught between a rock and a hard place, and doesn’t have many choices when it comes to setting municipal taxes; flat tax rates similar to Creighton’s are not permitted in Manitoba.
Implementing a flat municipal tax rate in Manitoba would involve significant changes to the Municipal Assessment Act, something that previous governments have been unwilling to do. The current government appears to be following the same path.
Our previous city council was able to try to equalize taxes to some extent by placing an additional tax on property owners for essential municipal services, collectively called Protective Services, for which all property owners currently pay the same. It was necessary to hold special hearings with provincial representatives before this tax could be applied within our community.
Ultimately we are left with two choices. We can petition the provincial government to revise the Municipal Assessment Act, something that could benefit many other small communities in Manitoba. Given the glacial pace at which logical change takes place courtesy of our elected officials, I’m not holding my breath.
The second choice would be to increase our municipal tax base. More property owners paying municipal taxes ultimately decreases the burden on all.
I’ll be discussing what might be done in my column in next Wednesday’s Reminder.
Thomas Heine is a Flin Flon resident.
