Loreen Poier says her house is not worth $250,000 and she doesn’t want to pay property taxes based on that amount.
Poier lives in a home on a 10-acre parcel along the road to York Lake, south of Yorkton, Sask. There are no other buildings, and she values the property at no more than $200,000.
She said the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency has assessed her property at the higher value, based on nine sales in the rural municipality of Orkney between 1990 and 1994.
“Based on the figures that the RM has given us, our taxes have gone from about $3,200 to $5,370,” Poier said in an interview. She and at least nine other area property owners are appealing the assessments.
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“Why should we pay 20 percent higher taxes in a rural situation when we don’t even have police or fire protection?” she said. “We don’t have water or sewer or streetlights.
“This is obviously wrong. If I lived in the best part of Yorkton I’d be paying 20 percent less.”
But Bryan Hebb, chief executive officer of SAMA, said Poier needs to discuss taxes with her local municipality, not SAMA.
The province gave municipalities some tax tools to help cushion the impacts of the first property value reassessment since 1965.
“We’re just valuing property and our objective is to get to fair market value,” he said.
The homes near Poier’s are located in an area in high demand and are valued correctly, he said.
“I suspect that on the York Road, land would be worth a little more than right in Yorkton,” he said.
“Her safety valve is her right to appeal.”
Hebb said there have been fewer complaints than expected as properties have been
reassessed.
Strong markets
“There are some hot spots, like the town of Saltcoats and York Lake Road,” which have unusually strong markets, he said. “But they’re few and far between.
“We were planning for an appeal rate of five to 10 percent but it’s coming in under two
percent.”
Hebb said municipalities have done an excellent job of informing property owners. SAMA’s toll-free lines are being used and people have been getting answers to their questions.
“They may not be pleased, but at least they’re satisfied they got the information,” he said.
Hebb added property values are constantly changing. Some farmland and residential area values have already gone up between 10 and 15 percent since they were assessed under the new system, which uses 1994 values.
