Monthly Archives: March 2010

CREA rules governing MLS® not anti-competitive, says president

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Across Canada, the media reporting on the Competition Bureau’s case against the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) to “smash” what it terms are anti-competitive home listings on MLS®, which allegedly limits consumer choice and artificially inflates the price of real estate transactions.

The competition Bureau concluded that REALTORS® should not have exclusive guardianship of MLS® data about local real estate markets, according to media reports. Media commentators have referred to the bureau’s ruling as the “democratization” of the real estate market.

But the reality is that CREA’s rules governing the Multiple Listing System are “not anti-competitive”, said CREA president Dale Ripplinger.

He said CREA is confident the Competition Tribunal will rule against the Competition Bureau. The tribunal is a quasi-judicial body which will make the ultimate ruling.

“The bureau is focused on striking down these anti-competitive rules so that real estate agents wishing to offer innovative services can do so and consumers can benefit from greater choice”, said Melanir Aitken, the commissioner of the bureau.

Rippliger disagrees with Aitken’s assessment of the role of the existing MLS® systems, saying consumers do have choices available to them.

CREA currently has more than 98,000 members (including 1,400 locally, who are members of WinnipegREALTORS®) operating independently across the country, competing on a daily basis for the business of Canadian consumers.

“There are more consumer choices and more business models today than ever before- and that is a good thing.”

Rippliger said Canadian consumers can negotiate the level of service they want and the fees or commissions they want to pay for that service.

WinnipegREALTORS® president Claude Davis said most consumers recognize REALTOR fees are negotiable.

“What most consumers want to pay for is the assistance of a professional,” said Davis. “Clients have indicated to me that they seek out a professional REALTOR® to the come up with compeptitive pricing on a home, how to prepare a home for sale, holding open houses, and dealing with closing negotiations.”

“They’re looking for a lot more than simply a posting on the MLS® system,” Davis added.

“What hasn’t changed- and cannot change to ensure the integrity of MLS® system which operate across the country- is the need for accurate and reliable information to be provided for use in MLS® systems,” said Rippliger and a commitment by REALTORS® using MLS® systems to comply with a code of ethics and regulatory requirement across the country.

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Property Tax Controversy

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The Saskatchewan government is contemplating a delay in fulfilling two changes promised in last year’s budget, both of which will impact property taxes. One, the promise to shift education funding away from property taxes and onto provincial coffers, the second, to increase municipal revenue sharing. The former should be implemented immediately; the latter should be put on hold.

Municipal revenue sharing and school property taxes were both on the front burner of Saskatchewan politics for many years, though furor over property taxes was always greater. While British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces did not use municipal property taxes to pay for schools whatsoever, Saskatchewan relied on them more heavily than anywhere else in Canada. Last year’s budget was a giant leap forward as increased dollars from the province brought its share from 51 up to 63 per cent of total K-12 education funding.

But that wasn’t all. The province also took control of mill rates for school property taxes across the province, ensuring its increased funding would not simply lead to more spending by school boards and, therefore, a tax increase. Provincial funding was to increase even further in 2010-11, meaning general revenues would pay for 66 per cent of the total, leaving the rest to school property taxes. It is this further change that is now in jeopardy.

It’s a similar story for municipalities, who are now receiving record funding from the province. Last year’s budget dedicated 0.9 of the 5 per cent PST towards municipalities, scheduled to rise to a full 1 point in 2010. This meant the province, which gave $135 million to municipalities in fiscal 2008, would grant $167 million next year and would give $220 million in 2010. Again, that additional bump might not take place.

There are two main differences between municipal revenue sharing and school funding that make the latter the best choice for budget dollars. With the province taking over both the property tax and general revenue sides of school funding, lowering general revenues will have one of two consequences: less money for schools, or higher school mill rates to make up the shortfall. Bye-bye property tax reduction.

On the face of it, giving less money to municipalities would mean higher property taxes as well. But in an ironic twist, less money for municipalities might be good for taxpayers overall.

Like a fish that grows to the size of its environment, municipalities have simply taxed and spent more due to provincial revenue sharing. Consider that last year, even with record transfers from the province and higher assessment values, mill rates failed to drop in Regina and even rose by 2.87 per cent in Saskatoon. Ironically, the extra $7.7 million the City of Regina received from the province for revenue sharing was precisely equal to the amount given for salary increases at City Hall.

These dollars exclude the millions more given to municipalities each year through annual capital grants and special ‘stimulus’ grants. Projects driven by the deficit-spending federal government have also meant additional provincial funds of $25 million for Saskatoon and $20 million for Regina. This in and of itself is almost enough to offset the $53 million bump in funding that the province is reconsidering for the upcoming budget.

While it’s true that balancing the budget next year will take some difficult decisions, some are easier than others. In the battle of school funding vs. municipal revenue sharing, schools deserve to win hands down. Municipalities that want to overspend should have to justify their tax increases to citizens and not place the blame on another level of government.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/17516

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Taking losses on rental property

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The taxman gets jumpy and may sniff around if you deduct losses from a rental property. Here is a reason why your losses may attract some unwanted attention.

Losses from a rental operation can be applied against other income such as wages. In essence, your rental loss is a tax deduction that nets you a refund and the taxman doesn’t like to hand out refunds unless there is a legitimate reason.

To be fair, the Canada Revenue Agency isn’t out to disallow all rental losses, per se. Rather the agency tries to distinguish between deductible losses from real rental operations and non-deductible losses where the operation involves a strong personal element. For instance, the tax courts have made it quite clear the CRA cannot disallow rental losses from legitimate rental operation. The key considerations are: Why did you buy and rent the property?

Was it a bona fide commercial activity, i.e., to make money, or was it a personal endeavor? If it was a commercial activity, the train stops there and the losses should be deductible.

The tax courts have also agreed losses from rental operations that involve a personal element are non-deductible if the operation isn’t conducted in a business-like manner. And what do ‘personal element’ and ‘business-like manner’ mean?

Say you owned a house with two bedrooms; your parent lives in one and while living in the same house, you rented the other bedroom to your girlfriend. Consequently you claimed rental losses from deducting a percentage of the house expenses against the rented bedroom. Is there a personal element involved? If yes, was the rental operation conducted in a business-like manner? If no, the rental losses are denied.

In Slagado versus the Tax Court of Canada, Nov. 5, 2008, involving the above facts, the judge quickly concluded there was a clear personal element because the taxpayer had rented out his bedroom to his girlfriend and they shared its use. Was the rental conducted in a business-like manner?

The taxpayer had charged annual rent of $1,950 for 2003 and 2004 and claimed rental losses of $5,827 and $3,426 for those years. It turned out his girlfriend didn’t even live in that property during 2003. The judge concluded there wasn’t a business-like arrangement because rent was charged to a non-existent tenant.

The above case is a reckless example of an illegitimate rental operation. The case of Landriault & Bercier versus the Tax Court of Canada, July 29, 2009, is more typical of rental losses that fail the smell test.

The taxpayers, a married couple, lived on the lower floor and rented the upper floor to their son at less than fair market value. They claimed rental losses of $7,523 and $4,836 for 2003 and 2004.

The judge concluded there was a personal element because the tenant was their son. Since the rent was below fair market value and the couple could not expect to make a profit at that rent level, there was no evidence the rental activities were carried out in a business-like manner.

He concluded the operation was a family arrangement to charge minimal rent to help defray the operating costs of the property and he denied their losses.

http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/nov30_09wong.html

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City expecting to spend $3.4M less on tax appeals

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WINNIPEG is poised to spend $3.4 million less than it expected this year to deal with appeals of property assessments that came before the province’s Municipal Board.
Over the past four years, the city set aside $6.5 million to pay back taxes to property owners who successfully appealed decisions made by the Board of Revision, a city body that deals with property appeals.

But as the current assessment cycle winds down, only about $3.1 million of that money will be spent, as the province’s Municipal Board has ruled in the city’s favour more often than tax assessors expected.

And this property-appeal windfall will help the city post a surplus on its 2009 operating budget, the city’s chief financial officer says in a report that comes before council’s finance committee this morning.

“Our values are standing up to a degree of scrutiny much more than they have in the past,” said Nelson Karpa, the director of Winnipeg’s assessment and taxation department. “I think we’re doing a good job presenting competent evidence.”

Of 766 appeals that have come before the Municipal Board during the current assessment cycle – a period that covers the years 2006 through 2009 – 502 have already been heard or settled some other way, Karpa said.

The end result is a $3.4 million contribution to the city’s bottom line, which is now projected to be a $2.9 million surplus, according to the finance report. One month ago, chief financial officer Mike Ruta forecast a $3.4 million deficit for 2009.

It’s customary for the city to forecast modest deficits until the final few months of the year, when corporate savings in several departments usually translate into modest surpluses instead.

“They generally catch up by about $1 million a month in the latter part of the year,” said St. James Coun. Scott Fielding, city council’s finance chairman.

The windfall from appeals, however, has nothing to do with property owners who have come before the Board of Revision to complain about their assessments for the 2010 assessment year. The city neither saves nor loses money from this new batch of appeals, which are factored into next year’s property-tax rolls.

So far, the Board of Revision has heard more than half of the 8,135 appeals launched over the 2010 property assessments. The city has about 205,000 parcels of property in total, of which about 178,000 are single-family dwellings.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/property-assessments-standing-up-city-expecting-to-spend-34m-less-on-tax-appeals-78399222.html

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Sarnia property taxes up 1.8% in 2010

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Property taxes in Sarnia, Ont., will go up 1.8 per cent in 2010, according to the new budget set by city councillors at a meeting Tuesday night.

The $132-million budget also includes a one-time one per cent levy to complete capital projects worth $20.4 million.

Overall, “it’s a restraint budget” that cuts services “in very subtle ways,” said Coun. Mike Kelch.

“I don’t think it’s really going to [have an] impact,” Kelch said. “I don’t think people will say ‘Oh, I really notice that.’”

The property tax increase will translate to $15 for a home assessed at $100,000, the budget said.

That’s “a very modest tax increase,” Mayor Mike Bradley said, adding it will help pay for “a massive infrastructure investment in the community” in 2008 and 2009.

“So that in turn creates jobs, renews the community and gives us a real strong way to exit the recession,” Bradley said.

The city released its 228-page draft budget on Oct. 26. It proposed a property tax hike of 2.75 per cent, which was whittled down to 1.8 per cent during a series of discussions that ended Tuesday night.

Sarnia’s transit department will see its own increase, as the cost of a bus ride jumps to $2.25 from $2.00.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2009/12/02/sarnia-2010-property-tax-091202.html#ixzz0ig5iN9Pr

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Calgary Faces $3.5 Million Budget Deficit For 2010-2011

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Calgary, Alberta (AHN) – Like its mother province Alberta that is reeling from the impact of the recession and the global economic crisis from late 2008, Calgary is also suffering financially. The city approved its 2010-11 budget with an expected $13.5 million budget deficit.

The gap is not expected to be closed despite approval a day before by the city council of a tax increase a little below five percent for next fiscal year. It would cost Calgarians $54 more on their residential property tax bill.

Despite the tighter budget, Alberta municipalities are even hiking their spending at 1.6 times above their population rate and inflation growth. In the case of Calgary, its spending increase will be by 1.4 percent.

Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier said in a statement, “This is the tightest budget that we have had to delivery in years. It comes with layoffs. It also comes with some program changes, yet we have preserved our key priority areas of public safety, mobility and environmental protection.”

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017106049

Calgary, Alberta (AHN) – Like its mother province Alberta that is reeling from the impact of the recession and the global economic crisis from late 2008, Calgary is also suffering financially. The city approved its 2010-11 budget with an expected $13.5 million budget deficit.

The gap is not expected to be closed despite approval a day before by the city council of a tax increase a little below five percent for next fiscal year. It would cost Calgarians $54 more on their residential property tax bill.

Despite the tighter budget, Alberta municipalities are even hiking their spending at 1.6 times above their population rate and inflation growth. In the case of Calgary, its spending increase will be by 1.4 percent.

Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier said in a statement, “This is the tightest budget that we have had to delivery in years. It comes with layoffs. It also comes with some program changes, yet we have preserved our key priority areas of public safety, mobility and environmental protection.”

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017106049

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This isn’t ‘selling out’ our city

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Right off the bat there’s over-reaction and unnecessary criticism about the City of Winnipeg’s corporate sponsorship or “naming rights” program, which allows companies, foundations and individuals to sponsor city property and programming all in the name of raising revenue for the city coffers.

This isn’t “selling out” the city as suggested by some online readers. It’s not about handing the municipality over to the big bad world of business and entrepreneurship. It’s about not raising property taxes. Plain and simple.

It’s about saving taxpayers money.

The city desperately needs to find new revenue if Mayor Sam Katz continues with his pledge to keep property taxes frozen. They have to come up with something innovative and right away. If council turns off the revenue taps from property taxes, they need to recoup it from somewhere. This looks like a marvellous way to accomplish that.

After dragging their heels for more than a year — actually the idea has been tossed around since 1997 — city officials released the finalized inventory of buildings, programs and other assets late last week, that would be available under the program. Some of the items and landmarks up for grabs are Kildonan, Whittier and Kilcona parks, community centres including Southdale, Bronx Park and Sinclair Park, some city libraries and golf courses, arenas and pools and spray pads.

There’s even been some suggestion a police helicopter could benefit from this program.

“It’s a real opportunity not only for companies and foundations but also private citizens. Maybe they’d like to memorialize someone,” said Coun. Grant Nordman.

Another good point was raised by Raj Manchanda, a professor of marketing at the University of Manitoba. “Additional exposure is always good for a brand, but more important is that it shows the company is participating in the community. It shows they believe in the city.”

We need businesses and foundations to invest in this city, just like Canad Inns does with Canad Inns Stadium and MTS does with the MTS Centre.

There’s just too many positives with this program to not, at least try it. But why has it been shelved so often in the past? Was there no interest? Did we not have a council committed to the idea?

Or was it — as the Sun’s Tom Brodbeck pointed out — just easier to just raise taxes?

This of course won’t solve all the problems in the city treasury but it’s just the start of things like more user fees and public-private sector partnerships we will see in the coming years.

The city needs extra revenue. Sponsors need to hop on board. The only drawback is, it’s cost us plenty waiting for council to get going on this.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/editorial/2009/11/26/11931061-sun.html

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Housing here slightly less affordable

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OWNING a home in Manitoba just became a little less affordable thanks to a bump up in mortgage rates and higher house prices.

RBC Economics said Tuesday the cost of home ownership in the province edged up by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points in the July-to-September period.

The good news is it was “arguably the weakest deterioration” in affordability across the country, the bank said in its latest quarterly housing affordability report. In fact, this was the first decrease in affordability in Manitoba since early 2008.

RBC said the erosion in affordability was part of a countrywide trend.

“The reversal in the improving trend in affordability was caused by a recent pickup in key mortgage rates as well as gains in property values… ,” it said, noting the average posted rate on five-year conventional mortgages — the basis for the calculations in the RBC measures — went up modestly from a generational low of 5.45 per cent in the second quarter to 5.73 per cent in the third quarter.

And generally strong resale market activity across the country has heated up housing prices again since midsummer, after months of widespread softness, said senior RBC economist Robert Hogue.

He said that trend is likely to continue because house prices aren’t expected to fall any time soon and mortgage rates are headed higher in 2010.

He said Manitoba markets, in terms of affordability, are pretty close to long-term averages right now.

RBC’s affordability research measures the proportion of pre-tax household income required to service the cost of mortgage payments, property taxes and utilities.

Here’s how the affordability of four housing groups shaped up in Manitoba:

  • Affordability of detached bungalows increased by 0.4 per cent to 34.8 per cent, compared to a one per cent hike to 40.2 per cent in Canada.
  • Affordability of standard two-storey homes went up by 0.3 per cent to 37.5 per cent (1.2 per cent jump to 45.8 per cent in Canada).
  • Affordability of standard townhouses inched up by 0.2 per cent to 23 per cent (0.7 per cent increase to 32.3 per cent in Canada).
  • Affordability of standard condominiums increased by 0.3 per cent to 20.5 per cent (0.5 per cent increase to 27.6 per cent in Canada).

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/Housing-here-slightly-less-affordable.html

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Addicts out in cold: workers

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Centres’ shutdown over holidays called symptom of underfunding

It’s bad enough a funding shortfall is forcing provincial drug-treatment centres to close over Christmas, but staff say that’s just one grim symptom of chronic underfunding at the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

Addicts often wait three months for drug treatment and a year to get into the methadone program. Staffing levels are stagnant, even though client numbers have increased nearly 20 per cent over the last five years. The province kiboshed a plan to hire extra staff for treatment centres, forcing many to work solo with potentially violent clients.

Come next year, the AFM will no longer be able to afford to dispatch addiction counsellors to 65 schools across the province.

And treatment-centre cooks are using coupons to save money on food.
In an interview, four front-line staff members said that, on their own, individual cuts aren’t too damaging.

Added together, though, they amount to a dramatic erosion of services for addicts at a time when the courts are ordering more people into mandatory treatment and addictions are getting more complicated.

“(AFM CEO John Borody) is just constantly putting his finger in all the dikes,” said Dave Grift, a prevention and education worker. “The AFM keeps trying to do more with no money to do it with.”

That means staff have higher caseloads, spend less time with clients and turn away people ready to get clean.

“We’re worried we’re moving to a factory style of treatment,” said Rae Kujanpaa, a community addictions worker based in Dauphin. “People are just getting rolled through.”

The AFM revealed this week it will close most of its treatment centres over Christmas to save $50,000, a move Healthy Living Minister Jim Rondeau defended Thursday. He said few people are in month-long residential treatment programs over the holidays and it makes sense to ramp up for the post-Christmas influx.

He said the NDP has boosted AFM’s budget by nearly 55 per cent over the last decade — a hefty increase.

“We continue to expand programs and make them more accessible,” said Rondeau. “We’ve been trying to get them the resources they need.”

But staff say recent increases have been eaten up by new pension contribution rules set by the province.

Salaries, mandated by union agreements, have also increased, leaving virtually no extra money to cover inflationary operating costs.

Nearly 16,000 people got treatment at the AFM’s programs in the last fiscal year. That’s up by more than 2,300 from five years ago. But staff numbers have remained static at about 280 people, said Borody.

The province recently spent $9 million on a new treatment centre in Thompson that staff called “beautiful.” But so far, the AFM hasn’t seen any extra operating funding for maintenance, to staff three extra beds or to cover a $67,000 property tax bill.

Earlier this year, the AFM hoped to make good on a long-standing promise to staff its five adult treatment centres with two residential-care workers at all times. The province kiboshed the funding request.

Addicts often suffer from mental illnesses or multiple addictions and can get violent, making it dangerous for staff and other clients. On one shift last month, a staff member working solo reported dealing with an intruder, a suicidal patient, a diabetic with dangerously low blood sugar and an incoherent client who needed an ambulance.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/addicts-out-in-cold-workers-70603952.html

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Education department releases financial data

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How can the province and education property taxpayers pump $93 million of new money into the public school system this year, yet have spending go up by $72.5 million?

How can spending within the $1,816,127,082 public school system go up by 4.2 per cent this year, but record spending per student increase by 4.6 per cent?

OK, the numbers in the department of education’s annual financial report are mind-boggling, and the funding of Manitoba public education is complex.

But let’s try.

The answer to the first question is that the NDP has switched its funding focus from improving the quality of education, to freezing, or at least holding down, education property taxes.

Money going into the system exceeds money spent because the province offered tax incentive grants to divisions willing to freeze their taxes. It increased education property tax credits, money which comes off property owners’ tax bills without ever going into a classroom. And the government ordered school divisions to spend their surpluses down to two per cent of revenue — in effect, spending “old” money in contingency reserve funds — rather than raise taxes.

Only 12 divisions passed up the tax incentive grants back in March when they set mill rates for this school year.

Those divisions chose to raise property taxes, because they believed that the price for tax freezes would mean cutting jobs, programs or services, or passing up improvements.
But the second question — how can spending per student go up at a higher rate than spending?

Those provincial data suggest that as enrolment declines — as it has been throughout the decade — that school boards are not reducing the number of people on the payroll. So even though there are fewer students, there are just as many classroom teachers, administrators, and resource teachers.

Opposition leader Hugh McFadyen said Wednesday that he has no problem with lower class sizes: “That is a good thing. It’s a reflection of the decline in enrolment. As a parent, I think it’s positive.”

But McFadyen said administration costs should be dropping as student numbers fall — keep the frontline teachers, but find ways to cut overhead, he said.

“The government has used tax-incentive grants to temporarily keep property taxes down,” but that’s not sustainable, McFadyen said.

Former education minister Peter Bjornson had threatened to cap education spending in this coming March’s budgets, and possibly even impose tax freezes across Manitoba. He had not committed to continuing tax-incentive grants to help achieve tax freezes.

Bjornson is gone and his successor, Nancy Allan, will not grant media interviews, at least until the end of the month, say her aides.

Meanwhile, if you want proof schools have as many teachers while students decline, try this — the pupil/teacher ratio dropped this year from 17.6 kids per classroom teacher to 17.4, the pupil/educator ratio from 14 to 13.9.

Look almost anywhere in the system, and costs per student go up faster than overall costs.

Student support services are up 4.8 per cent, for example, but by 5.2 per cent per student.

OK, you’re asking, doesn’t overall spending of 4.6 per cent exceed inflation?

Of course it does, but the base wage increase for teachers for several years has been three per cent plus cash bonuses of as much as $500, and many teachers also receive increments as they move up in seniority.

Louis Riel School Division settled this year for a contract that gives each teacher pay equal to the highest rate paid anywhere else in the city for that teacher’s level of qualifications and years of service, a contract the Manitoba Teacher’s Society’s website says is an overall 4.82 per cent increase. It’s likely many teachers elsewhere will seek a similar deal for 2010-2011.

There are other intriguing tidbits to be found amid the number-crunching.

While enrolment is inexorably dwindling, schools are busing an additional 697 kids this year, and running buses almost 500,000 more kilometers — where there’s been growth, it’s phenomenal rural growth, primarily in the rural areas around Steinbach and Winkler.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/education-department-releases-financial-data-70603797.html

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