Homeowner grant threshold raised to $1.285M

The B.C. government has raised the threshold for homeowner property grant to $1.285 million to accommodate rising property values.

The news comes as hundreds of thousands of annual property assessments are being prepared for B.C. property owners by the government. Last year, the threshold was $1.15 million. The grant effectively reduces the property tax paid by most B.C. homeowners by up to $1,045

Every year the province adjusts the grant to ensure 95.5 per cent of homeowners receive the full amount of the grant. Those with homes above the threshold may still be eligible for part of the grant.

“The homeowner grant provides a maximum reduction in residential property taxes on principal residences of $570 in the Capital, Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley regional districts and $770 elsewhere in the province,” said a statement issued by the government on Tuesday.

“An additional grant of $275 is available to those who are age 65 or over, permanently disabled or a veteran of certain wars,.”

“We continue to see challenging economic times around the world. By maintaining the homeowner grant, we continue to help families with the costs of owning their homes,” said Finance Minister Kevin Falcon in the statement.

The grant is only available to Canadian citizens and to landed immigrants who normally reside in B.C.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/01/03/bc-homeowner-grant.html

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Have you paid your property taxes?

The City of Winnipeg is offering “Drive-By Drop Off” payment of property taxes in advance of the deadline to pay Thursday.

Tuesday to Thursday, city staff will accept payments outside of the Assessment and Taxation Department at the corner of James Avenue and King Street from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. To pay your bill this way, bring your tax bill and a cheque or money order — not cash.

Cash will be accepted in person at City Hall, 510 Main Street or at the Bilingual Service Centre, 614 Des Meurons. Winnipeg taxpayers can also make payments though their financial instituion or by courier, or take advantage of the city’s Tax Instalment Payment Plan.

“It’s important for property owners to make their payments by the June 30 deadline, to avoid penalties for late payment,” Nelson Karpa, city assessor in the assessment and taxation department, said in a release.

For more information on payment options please contact 311 or toll free at 1-877-311-4974 or 311@winnipeg.ca.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/06/27/have-you-paid-your-property-taxes

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City auditor says report misinterpreted



The City of Winnipeg’s auditor says a report his department authored regarding special taxes for new homeowners was misinterpreted.

Brian Whiteside said the report on local improvements was meant to identify a potential risk, but not to directly imply that some homeowners may have been double-charged by property developers.

“There was language in the audit report used to identify a potential risk in existing city processes,” he said in a statement on behalf of the audit department.

“However, that wording appears to have been interpreted in a way not consistent with its intended meaning. We did not mean to imply that we had investigated and concluded whether developers had in fact double-charged property owners for land drainage in these cases,” Whiteside said.

The auditor’s report stated concern that Winnipeggers who bought new homes may have been charged twice for basic services: once when they bought their lot and again when they were charged a special tax on their tax bills.

Documentation from a development company and property owners, however, proved otherwise.

The report drew criticism from Mayor Sam Katz who called Whiteside’s findings “inaccurate” and also from B.C.-based North Grassie Properties which owns a chunk of Winnipeg land.

In a separate statement Thursday, Whiteside said the city has chosen to act on the report’s findings.

“City council has accepted the audit report and the Winnipeg Public Service has agreed to implement all nine recommendations contained in the Local Improvements Audit so I am confident that the audit will achieve the results expected,” Whiteside said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/03/24/man-audit-response-whiteside.html

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Property owners dinged twice





The City of Winnipeg plans to launch an internal review after auditors discovered a local developer was able to collect

$250,000 by effectively double-charging property owners for land-drainage work.
In a damning report, city auditors uncovered a total of eight cases where developers used an obscure mechanism called an

“inside-development local improvement” to collect money from property owners without providing anything in return.
The auditor’s report, published by the city late Friday, looked into Winnipeg’s local improvement process, which allows

citizens or developers to initiate construction projects that otherwise wouldn’t be included in the city’s infrastructure

plans. Local improvements typically involve small projects, such as sidewalk paving or decorative street lamps.
Under a local improvement, the city or a contractor conducts the work up front and adds the cost to property tax bills. City

auditors examined 148 such improvements between 2005 and 2009, including 84 initiated by developers.
In eight of these cases, developers — none identified by name — received city approval to begin local improvements for

land-drainage work on parcels of land owned entirely by the developer. In these cases, the eventual buyers of the properties

had no idea they would begin paying additional property taxes and got nothing in return, the auditors contend.
“Under the arrangement in question, the sole benefit of the tax goes to the developer because all of the local improvement

taxes are remitted back to the developer,” audit manager Bryan Mansky writes.
“We believe it is quite reasonable to assume that the final property owner may pay for the cost of the infrastructure

elements twice: once in the lot price and then again through the local-improvement taxes imposed.”
He and his fellow auditors “were unable to ascertain the reason for this type of arrangement,” which does not appear to exist

in other Canadian cities.
Even in Winnipeg, “inside development local improvements” are rare. The city approved no such arrangements between 1975 and

2002, when a developer succeeded in imposing extra taxes to pay for land-drainage sewers at a downtown infill project, the

auditors write.
The same developer requested this clause be added to development agreements seven times between 2002 and 2006. That year, a

city property official finally challenged a request for a local improvement levy on land-drainage sewers for a new

subdivision.
Land drainage is considered basic infrastructure, not an improvement, the official argued. But the developer successfully

argued a precedent had been set.
The developer also said the arrangement would make the resulting properties more affordable for young families. Auditors

found this wasn’t the case, since the properties were eventually assessed at $340,000, well beyond the range of many

first-time homebuyers. There was also no evidence the tax was used to reduce the price of the lots.
In this one instance, the developer gained an additional $250,000 after each homebuyer was slapped with an additional $2,036

worth of property taxes. This cost should have been included in the lot price, the auditors suggest.
“Since the installation of the basic infrastructure elements was already specifically required by the development agreement,

there is no additional benefit provided to the new property owners,” the report states.
City auditor Brian Whiteside declined to name the developer. The only way purchasers of his properties would know they were

about to pay for basic infrastructure twice was if their lawyer phoned Winnipeg’s senior local improvement clerk, the

auditors write.
Council was also left in the dark. The auditors found eight cases where the “inside-development” clause was added to

development agreements without council approval.
City council property chairman Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) said the city will probe all of these cases and pledged to head

the review.
“If at some point council didn’t know about it, that’s a problem,” he said, but he also said individual city councillors

“sometimes do their own thing” with developments.
Browaty declined to name those councillors.
The property chairman also said he knows of Winnipeg subdivisions where all of the basic infrastructure has been put in as

local improvements. New standards must be created to improve transparency, he said.
“If at some point in time a purchaser is purchasing a property and there’s something they’re not being told openly and

honestly and the assessment hasn’t come through, that’s also a problem,” Browaty said. “We’re going to make things a little

more consistent across the board.”
The auditors’ report came before city council’s executive policy committee in July 2010, but Mayor Sam Katz’s inner circle

chose to lay it over until November. EPC approved the report on March 16. It comes before council as a whole on March 23.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/property-owners-dinged-twice-118349194.html

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Prepare to get hosed

Education Minister Nancy Allan has signalled that property owners should prepare to be hosed by education tax increases this year.

Ms. Allan, of course, did not frame the signal in those words — she said this week that the government will not order school divisions to freeze tax rates — but it cynically amounts to the same thing.

Ms. Allan has not been long on the job. But she has been on the job long enough to know that a perfect storm is gathering around education property taxes, one from which she should be seeking to shield taxpayers. But instead, she declares it’s every school division for itself.

The perfect storm starts with the divisions, which have been agreeing to pay more teachers much more money to teach ever fewer children. Contract settlements have reached several times the rate of inflation, the most recent at 4.8 per cent, which will quickly become the norm for all. Why the settlements are so high is anybody’s guess in the current economic climate. But given the current economic climate — the government, which promised a balanced budget last spring, is already $600 million in deficit — the province is not going to be paying those wage increases, which leaves the hapless property owner, as Ms Allan must know.

To complicate — or is that implicate? — the situation, tax assessments this year have climbed on average 67 per cent under the recent reassessment. That dramatic rise, however, should not lead to a dramatic increase in property taxes. If everyone follows the City of Winnipeg’s policy of cutting mill rates by a 67 per cent equivalent to offset the expanded assessment base, a tax grab by stealth will not occur. That’s a policy, however, that the school divisions have ignored in the past, claiming to have frozen tax (mill) rates knowing that they would raise more lucre anyway. In 2002, for example, Winnipeg division raked in an extra $8 million under the scheme.

And what are taxpayers getting for this? The NDP government in its wisdom refuses to require standardized tests so there is no way of knowing. All we know is that in the absence of data, the province has reduced the school year from 200 days to as low as 193 to placate Labour Day vacationers, and it has guaranteed teachers that 10 of those days will be set aside for professional development.

At the same time, there are 136 more teachers on the job, in part because the government did not want to appear soft on obesity and declared that the reduced time in class should be further reduced by sending students to the gym.

So why is Ms. Allan ignoring all this and refusing to freeze education taxes? Because, while she’s a new minister, she is playing the same cynical game as the old ministers.

The government needs money, now more than ever, to cover the fact that its spending problems are bigger than its revenue problems in these tough times. Giving the green light to school divisions relieves the government of its responsibility to properly fund public education, as opposed to public education tax rebates.

But even more cynical is that, while the government refuses to accept responsibility, it hectors and lectures school trustees for raising property taxes in the absence of sufficient provincial funding.

Which is what Ms. Allan announced — she will not freeze taxes, she instead will pass judgement when taxes are raised.

So prepare to get hosed. But don’t blame the boards. This is the minister’s doing.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/prepare-to-get-hosed-81060087.html

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City expecting to spend $3.4M less on tax appeals

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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Septic fields now face tighter rules

New septic field regulations aimed at protecting the province’s waterways are now in force throughout Manitoba.
But a person who installs septic fields says the new changes won’t surprise property owners looking at installing a septic system.
Conservation Minister Stan Struthers on Monday made official “aggressive new rules governing human sewage”.
“Manitoba recognize it is time to move beyond outdated and unsustainable ways of dealing with sewage in favour of more responsible methods,” Struthers said in a statement.
“I am pleased to announce that will help protect human health and the environment.”
The new regulations include requiring a two-acre minimum low size for the installatioin of disposal fields, preventing septic fields in a number of sensitive areas, including Pelican Lake and Rock Lake, as well as Crown land cottage developments, provincial parks and a three-kilometre-wide corridor along the Red River between Winnipeg and Selkirk, banning existing sewage ejectors when a property is sold and forcing homeowners to hook up to municipal collection systems in serviced areas.
The new regulation were first posted for public comment in January and public consultations went on into May.
Dave Futros, of Farm-Rite Plumbing and Excavation Ltd., a company that installs septic systems in areas including West and East St. Paul and the Rural Municipality of Springfield, said he’s been telling people for months about the septic field changes coming down the pipe.
Futros said on Monday that the province has met with representatives in his profession for months to keep them abreast of what was happening.
“It was supposed to be passed in June. All the contractors have been made aware. ”

New septic field regulations aimed at protecting the province’s waterways are now in force throughout Manitoba.

But a person who installs septic fields says the new changes won’t surprise property owners looking at installing a septic system.

Conservation Minister Stan Struthers on Monday made official “aggressive new rules governing human sewage”.

“Manitoba recognize it is time to move beyond outdated and unsustainable ways of dealing with sewage in favour of more responsible methods,” Struthers said in a statement.

“I am pleased to announce that will help protect human health and the environment.”

The new regulations include requiring a two-acre minimum low size for the installatioin of disposal fields, preventing septic fields in a number of sensitive areas, including Pelican Lake and Rock Lake, as well as Crown land cottage developments, provincial parks and a three-kilometre-wide corridor along the Red River between Winnipeg and Selkirk, banning existing sewage ejectors when a property is sold and forcing homeowners to hook up to municipal collection systems in serviced areas.

The new regulation were first posted for public comment in January and public consultations went on into May.

Dave Futros, of Farm-Rite Plumbing and Excavation Ltd., a company that installs septic systems in areas including West and East St. Paul and the Rural Municipality of Springfield, said he’s been telling people for months about the septic field changes coming down the pipe.

Futros said on Monday that the province has met with representatives in his profession for months to keep them abreast of what was happening.

“It was supposed to be passed in June. All the contractors have been made aware. ”

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Stratham makes it easier for property owners to pay taxes

STRATHAM — The Board of Selectmen voted this week to accept payment on taxes early, a practice previous boards considered and rejected.
“I don’t think we had the technological sophistication we have now in our tax collector’s office,” said Town Administrator Paul Deschaine, about why the proposal was rejected by previous boards.
“It’s something that I’ve wanted to offer to taxpayers for a long time,” said Tax Collector and Town Clerk Joyce Charbonneau. She said she routinely receives calls from residents asking if they can pre-pay their taxes.
The program is already up and running, and had two people pre-pay portions of their tax bills on Tuesday, Oct. 6, the day after selectmen voted it into practice.
“We’ve had a lot of anxious calls in the past few months from people worried that the tax bills are going up,” she said.
Charbonneau said, as she tells the callers, she can’t guess what the tax rate will do this year, but she said it will probably be coming out about a month late. “People are worried and some people want to put a little away and whittle down the tax bill so they aren’t hit with the full cost all at once,” she said.
Charbonneau said people can set up a schedule with her, or just stop by at their leisure, but that she would not be calling or sending out reminders to people if they don’t stick to their schedule.
“Anything that we can do to make things a little easier for people, particularly in this economy, is a good thing,” she said. “They can come in every month or every week— or every day if they want and they can pre-pay as much as they want.”
At this point, residents can pre-pay toward their tax bill as much as they want and at the end of the year if there is a remaining balance it will be refunded to them. In the beginning of the year, residents can pre-pay toward the July tax bill and any extra funds can be refunded or applied toward the December tax bill.
Other towns in the area use systems of pre-payment. “I’ve spoken with some of them and they said it is no problem,” she said. “There is no additional administrative burden.”
There was some discussion about the possibility of taking payments as far as the state law allows, two years ahead of when the taxes are due.
“I don’t see a problem with letting people pay two years in advance,” Selectman David Canada said. “But, I also don’t see a problem in letting you crawl before you run,” he told Charbonneau, pointing out that if she decided later to extend how far people could pay in advance, it would not require approval from the Board of Selectmen.
“As always, Joyce is out there to help the customers,” Canada said.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20091009-NEWS-910090315

STRATHAM — The Board of Selectmen voted this week to accept payment on taxes early, a practice previous boards considered and rejected.

“I don’t think we had the technological sophistication we have now in our tax collector’s office,” said Town Administrator Paul Deschaine, about why the proposal was rejected by previous boards.

“It’s something that I’ve wanted to offer to taxpayers for a long time,” said Tax Collector and Town Clerk Joyce Charbonneau. She said she routinely receives calls from residents asking if they can pre-pay their taxes.

The program is already up and running, and had two people pre-pay portions of their tax bills on Tuesday, Oct. 6, the day after selectmen voted it into practice.

“We’ve had a lot of anxious calls in the past few months from people worried that the tax bills are going up,” she said.

Charbonneau said, as she tells the callers, she can’t guess what the tax rate will do this year, but she said it will probably be coming out about a month late. “People are worried and some people want to put a little away and whittle down the tax bill so they aren’t hit with the full cost all at once,” she said.

Charbonneau said people can set up a schedule with her, or just stop by at their leisure, but that she would not be calling or sending out reminders to people if they don’t stick to their schedule.

“Anything that we can do to make things a little easier for people, particularly in this economy, is a good thing,” she said. “They can come in every month or every week— or every day if they want and they can pre-pay as much as they want.”

At this point, residents can pre-pay toward their tax bill as much as they want and at the end of the year if there is a remaining balance it will be refunded to them. In the beginning of the year, residents can pre-pay toward the July tax bill and any extra funds can be refunded or applied toward the December tax bill.

Other towns in the area use systems of pre-payment. “I’ve spoken with some of them and they said it is no problem,” she said. “There is no additional administrative burden.”

There was some discussion about the possibility of taking payments as far as the state law allows, two years ahead of when the taxes are due.

“I don’t see a problem with letting people pay two years in advance,” Selectman David Canada said. “But, I also don’t see a problem in letting you crawl before you run,” he told Charbonneau, pointing out that if she decided later to extend how far people could pay in advance, it would not require approval from the Board of Selectmen.

“As always, Joyce is out there to help the customers,” Canada said.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20091009-NEWS-910090315

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Your 2010 reassessment notice

You will have received one or more of the following types of assessment notices:

•a real property notice for buildings and land
•a personal property notice for certain equipment or machinery
•a business notice, if you operate a commercial enterprise and your municipality levies a business tax or fee

This updated assessment may affect your 2010 property taxes. Please take a few minutes to review your notice, including the important information on the back.

The Manitoba Government is reducing property taxes across the province by:

•increasing the Education Property Tax Credit since 1999, to $650 in 2009.
•eliminating the Education Support Levy on residential property, saving residential taxpayers $100 million annually.
•increasing the Farmland School Tax Rebate to 75% in 2009 from 33.3% in 2004.

Why has my property been reassessed?

Under provincial legislation, all properties across Manitoba are being reassessed regularly to:

•ensure taxes are fairly shared according to the assessed value of owned or leased properties.
•ensure assessed values keep pace with real estate market conditions.
•help property owners understand and evaluate their assessments.

When does this new assessment become effective?

The new assessment becomes effective in 2010, and will be used on your 2010 property tax statement. Assessment notices are being mailed well in advance of the 2010 tax year to benefit:

•you as a property owner, as you will have more time to review your assessment and discuss it with an assessor.
• your municipality, as there will be more time to finalize assessments before the final roll is needed for tax purposes in 2010.

How can I get more information about assessments?

On the Internet

You can obtain assessment information via the Internet at www.gov.mb.ca/assessment where you will find:

•answers to frequently asked questions
•assessments of all properties in Manitoba except in Winnipeg (Winnipeg assessments are available at www.winnipegassessment.com)

Meet an assessor in a community near you

As well as being available at our offices, assessors will hold Open Houses in many communities, offering you a convenient opportunity to discuss your assessment. Dates and locations for the Open Houses are listed on the back of this brochure.

Property Tax Assessments to be Mailed Soon

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2010 Property Tax Reassessment Notice: WHY? WHEN? HOW?

WHY?

Under provincial legislation, all properties across Manitoba are being reassessed regularly to make sure that taxes are fairly shared according to the assessed value of owned or leased properties. This is also done to ensure that the assessed values keep pace with real estate market conditions and help property owners understand and evaluate their own assessments.

WHEN?

The new assessment becomes effective in 2010, and will be used on your 2010 property tax statement. Assessment notices are being mailed in advance of the 2010 tax year. This action will benefit you as a property owner, as you will have more time to review your assessment and discuss it with an assessor. It is advantageous for the municipality too, as there will be more time to finalize assessments before the final roll is needed for tax purposes in 2010.

HOW?

Conveniently, you can get your assessment information online by visiting www.gov.mb.ca/assessment. Here, you’ll be informed about the assessment of all properties in Manitoba except in Winnipeg (Winnipeg assessments are available at www.winnipegassessment.com). You will also find answers to frequently asked questions.

Another way is to personally visit an assessor in a community near you. Assessors will hold Open Houses in many communities, offering you a convenient opportunity to discuss your assessment.

Property Tax Assessments to be Mailed Soon

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