Tag Archives: Taxation Department

Have you paid your property taxes?

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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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Tax-bill jump riles homeowner

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A family of five got a nasty shock from Winnipeg’s city hall this festive season. Starting in the new year, their monthly Tax Installment Payment Plan (TIPP) bill is going up 31 per cent.

“They sent us a letter a week or so ago — our TIPP went from $169 to $221,” said Ken Thoroski, who lives in St. Vital.

“I thought there might be some kind of mistake.”

The city says it’s no mistake — the increase is for their own good.
“Given the recent increase in assessed value for many homes in the city, the assessment and taxation department is anticipating an increase in taxes for some homeowners,” a 311 operator told Thoroski in an email.

While any increase in property taxes won’t be decided until spring when city council sets the municipal budget, the TIPP program isn’t waiting.
“In order to diminish the impact of a possible tax increase, the department is estimating your possible 2010 taxes and setting your monthly TIPP payment accordingly” starting Jan. 1. Once the mill rate is set in the spring, the department will know exactly what Thoroski’s taxes will be for 2010 and adjust his monthly TIPP up or down as necessary, the city said.

“It’s wrong,” Thoroski said. “They’re hitting you as hard as they can up front.”

The TIPP program allows property and business owners to make consecutive monthly payments for taxes rather than a single annual payment.

It starts on Jan. 1 of each year and payments are made on the first banking day of each month by automatic withdrawal from an account with chequing privileges at a financial institution.

Thoroski said upping his TIPP payment by so much before the new rate is set isn’t much of a privilege.

“You’re going to pay for 12 months and they hit you hard up front so they’re way ahead and pay you back later,” Thoroski said.

“It’s putting more money in their coffers,” continued the married father of three.

No one is forced to be on the TIPP program, which was designed to help people budget their property and school taxes, said the city’s head of assessment and taxation.

“If they have a real concern with how they’re being requested to make payments when taxes aren’t due, then send us a letter asking us to remove them from TIPP,” Nelson Karpa said. The city will then send the tax bill in the spring and the family can pay it at the end of June when the full amount is due, he said.

Still, the increase in property taxes riles Thoroski, who says the city won’t address his complaints about the sidewalk flooding on his street and noisy, over-lit service stations near his home.

Karpa said an increase in property taxes follows the 2008 reassessment, in which the market value of some homes in Winnipeg increased by as much as 100 per cent from five years earlier.

“There was a pretty dramatic increase in the value of real estate,” Karpa said. The average property value increased 67 per cent, he said.

“We simply report on what the market has done.”

Homeowners whose assessment increase is above the city average will likely see their property taxes increase.

The market value of Thoroski’s home increased 78 per cent from 2003 to 2008, according to the city’s property assessment website.

If city council succeeds in freezing property taxes again, homeowners with assessment increases below 67 per cent could see their property taxes drop.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/tax-bill-jump-riles-homeowner-79968637.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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It's not all about curb appeal

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Higher assessment doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll pay higher property taxes.

On average, the assessed value of residential properties in Winnipeg shot up 78 per cent from the last assessment period, according to the city’s assessment and taxation department.

While the increase officially gives you a clear picture of the wealth you may have already known you were sitting on for the past few years, it may also have implications for your tax bill.

But it doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in your property taxes, says the city’s assessment and taxation department’s director, Nelson Karpa. Continue reading →

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