Tag Archives: Finance Committee

Business rails at plan to charge for appealing assessment

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THE city is being blasted by business and taxpayers groups over a proposal to charge a $50 to $500 filing fee to property owners who appeal their property tax assessment.

Officials with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and one of the country’s largest realty tax consulting firms said Thursday the fee could effectively deny the right of appeal to some small business owners, seniors, and low-income ea
rners who have limited resources and can’t afford even a $50 fee.

And Colin Craig, Prairie director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the proposal smacks of “gouging”. The proposal, which must be approved by city council before it can be implemented, calls for a sliding scale of fees ranging from $50 to appeal the assessment on a single-family residence or condo, to as high as $500 for a non-residential property with an assessed value of $5 million or more.

City finance committee chairman Scott Fielding defended the proposal, saying most other jurisdictions charge such fees, including the Manitoba government and the City of Brandon.

He said the purpose is twofold: to recoup some of the costs incurred in providing an appeal process, and to deter “nuisance” appeals.

He said that in the last two-year appeal cycle, more than 12,000 appeals were filed, the city spent more than $1 million to hear them, and 1,738 (15 per cent) of appellants never even showed up for their appeal hearing.

“That’s a big waste of taxpayers money, so we think it (a filing fee) makes sense.”

He also noted the fee will be refunded if the taxpayer wins the appeal.

“(So) at the end of the day, we feel it’s something that is very justifiable.”

But David Sanders, a senior tax consultant with the Winnipeg office of Altus Group Realty Tax Consultants, said the right to an appeal is a basic right that shouldn’t be restricted for any reason. “And (people failing to appear for their hearing) is part of the cost of taxing the population,” he said.

He said if the city is concerned about no-shows, there must be better ways to deter them. A filing fee ends up punishing everyone for the actions of a few.

The CTF’s Craig said there’s nothing wrong with the city charging user fees for some services, such as the use of civic swimming pools, because people don’t have to use those services if they can’t afford the fees.

“But taxes aren’t voluntary, so to charge someone an arm and a leg to have their assessment reviewed is unreasonable.”
Sanders said he plans to appear before the city’s executive policy committee next Monday, and before council on March 22, to argue against the fee.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/business-rails-at-plan-to-charge-for-appealing-assessment-117788098.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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City talks taxes on new interactive website

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The mystery behind where Calgarians property tax dollars are going can now easily be solved with a new website launched by the city.

The Tax Talk website, launched on the eve of Calgary’s 2010 budget discussions, is intended to “help Calgarians understand where their tax dollars go,” according to a statement released by the city.

“It is an excellent tool for Calgarians to put their property tax in perspective,” said Gord Lowe, chairman of the city’s finance committee.

With a proposed increase of at least 4.8 per cent on property tax coming with council’s budget decisions, the Tax Talk site comes at the right time to answer basic questions Calgarians may have, Lowe said: “With the ability to measure their property tax against 14 other Canadian cities, Calgarians gain an important look at how they sit in relation to the rest of the country.”

The site enables Calgarians to enter the amount of property tax they pay and then breaks down that amount, dollar by dollar, into how much each citizen contributes to specific city services.

http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/370275–city-talks-taxes-on-new-interactive-website

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Rookie councillor to head city's finance committee

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St. James Coun. Scott Fielding is Winnipeg’s new budget boss after Mayor Sam Katz shuffled his inner circle in time for the city to hammer out next year’s spending plans.

Four out of six members of city council’s executive policy committee will receive new jobs when council holds its annual organizational meeting, a largely ceremonial confirmation of committee responsibilities.

The most significant move is the replacement of St. Norbert Coun. Justin Swandel with rookie councillor Fielding in the role of finance committee chairman.

Swandel, a Liberal-affiliated centrist, recently finished devising a draft version of the 2010 capital budget, a spending blueprint for road repairs, new construction projects and major equipment purchases next year. EPC plans to table the document on Nov. 16.

Fielding, a Conservative who once led a commission to explore ways to eliminate Winnipeg’s business tax, will be in charge of the city’s purse strings in time to write the 2010 operating budget, a road map for spending on programs such as policing, firefighting, insect control and library services.

The timing is crucial because Katz wants to freeze Winnipeg’s property taxes for the 13th straight year in 2010, which is an election year. The mayor is under tremendous pressure to increase property taxes, now that Winnipeg has one of the lowest municipal tax regimes in Canada and the province might be reluctant to help out at budget time if Winnipeg does not exhibit a willingness to shoulder some of the financial pain. Fielding, however, said he will do everything possible to achieve another tax freeze. “I think a property-tax freeze is something we need to take a look at that. I think it makes us more competitive as a city,” he said. Swandel, meanwhile, was one of four EPC members who argued in favour of a property-tax increase this year but failed to sway the mayor. Swandel said he was not pushing for an increase in 2010, but conceded it will be difficult for Winnipeg to balance its operating budget without more revenue.

Fundamentally, I wasn’t going in the same direction as the rest of the group, both administratively and politically,” he said, adding it was time to leave his finance job because he wasn’t making enough progress in his efforts to convince city departments to free up cash from dormant or completed capital projects.

Swandel said he asked the mayor to place him charge of the downtown development committee, instead.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/rookie-councillor-to-head-citys-finance-committee-68833237.html

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