When provincial government assessors were determining the market worth of Flin Flon homes in 2013, one of them is said to have remarked that the next round of assessments would likely show a decline in values.
Well, that next round of assessments is here, and many residents who expected a decrease have instead seen assessors again declare their properties are worth another $10,000 here or $20,000 there, if not more.
This makes no sense to city councillor Colleen McKee, who says the overall 15 per cent increase in property values across Flin Flon this year “scares me.” She does not believe such a rise is warranted.
McKee is hardly alone in that opinion. In conversation, one local homeowner told me that if the government really thinks his house is worth as much as it says, they are welcome to sell it for him, skim 10 per cent off the top and give him the rest.
It’s quite bizarre, this whole business of one level of government (provincial) telling you what your house is worth, thus directly influencing how much taxes you pay to another level of government (municipal).
Without getting into conspiracy theories, it is fair to point out that the provincial government has a vested interest in ensuring your house carries as high a market value as possible. The more tax dollars drawn by municipalities, after all, the lesser the demands on provincial coffers.
The assessment process is supposed to be performed in an arms-length, just-the-facts fashion, but at the end of the day it’s still all done by government agents. If you want to know how well supposedly arms-length government agencies look out for you, watch how often Manitoba’s Public Utilities Board signs off on hydro hikes compared to how often it puts its foot down.
Sure, you can appeal your property assessment if you believe it’s too high, but you’re only appealing to more government officials. Nothing is truly done third-party.
The concept of taxation based on property value is well-meaning. It’s designed to ensure that lower-income residents pay less and higher-income residents pay more, just as they do vis-à-vis income taxes.
Of course the tricky part is fairly determining what a home is worth at a moment in time. Assessors basically guess that if Home A sells for $110,000, then the somewhat similar Home B two blocks away will go for something in that ballpark.
An assessor’s job is especially tricky in Flin Flon. Ours is a community where you can have one home worth $30,000, another worth $80,000 and a third worth $150,000 all on the same block.
If the $150,000 house suddenly sells for $200,000, that doesn’t necessarily mean the other two are worth more; and if the $150,000 house goes for $100,000, it doesn’t mean the other two are worth less.
Looking only at cold, hard cash figures, assessors may simply fail to understand the nuances of local housing markets.
In fairness to assessors, it’s not as though they are declaring every home in Flin Flon is worth more in 2016, as some houses are actually declining in government-sanctioned worth.
Moreover, Flin Flon’s real estate market is stronger than most people think. As many times as residents repeat the “200 homes are for sale” line, the actual evidence points to a much, much lower figure.
In February 2016, The Reminder added up all of the homes and cottages in Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and area that were listed with realtors or on the classifieds website Kijiji. The total was 58 – a 22 per cent drop from September 2014.
Perhaps eventually the entire taxation system will be streamlined and move away from this haphazard scheme of government trying to guess what someone will pay for your house.
Until then, the concerns of Coun. McKee and many others are completely understandable.
Local Angle is published on Fridays.
