小蓝视频

ESTEVAN — The City of Estevan provided an update on the impacts of the latest provincial reassessment during the May 12 meeting of Estevan city council.

City tax assessor Trina Sieben told council that without any action on the mill rate, the city would have a deficit of about $1 million. The looks at property values every four years, but takes two years to apply its findings. The most recent reassessment took place in 2023.

Sieben said the latest re-evaluation resulted in some significant shifts in assessment.

"The City is unique in the sense that we experienced one of the highest shifts … given the positive and negative impacts affecting the market," she said.

It was necessary to analyze each property classification and assessment to establish new sub-classes and rates, she said, compensating for shifts while keeping property taxes in line with budget.

Sieben said the city spent a month analyzing, researching and reviewing other cities' taxation methods before coming to its decision.

The residential minimum tax shifted from $700 to $1,200, while the commercial minimum tax of $700 was replaced with a $1,000 base tax. In an email to SaskToday, the city said there are 351 properties aftected by the residential minimum decision, and 398 impacted by the base tax. 

The city used sub-classes to alleviate the changes and shifts in assessment in most property classes, including residential, commercial, hotels, multi-family units and condominiums.

Coun. Kirsten Walliser noted most people have looked at their notice of assessment, and believe that since their house is worth less this year, they should see a smaller tax bill. But that might not be the case.

Sieben said it depends on the assessment shifts for properties.

"It looks like, on average, the residential properties changed three per cent. For the commercial properties, they went down, on average, 14 per cent."

Mayor Tony Sernick said once the city gets all of the changes sorted out, it will be good until 2029.

"It's unfortunate that … we're already two years behind in the market, but these are reflective of the market as of January 1, 2023," said Sieben.

"SAMA is the gift that keeps on going," Sernick said to laughter.

If people have questions about their reassessment, Sieben said she has an information sheet. They can call her office directly at 306-634-1811, or they can go to the SAMA view website.

"I would recommend for everyone to go onto and view your property, because the onus is on the homeowner to try to find any errors on there."

For example, if a garage was removed years ago and the individual didn't take out a demolition permit, the city might not be aware.

People have until May 27 to make the appeal.

Council also gave first reading to four taxation-related bylaws. In addition to the bylaw to fix the rate of taxation, council looked at the bylaws for the Business Improvement District, and the health-care and library levies.

The BID levy is expected to generate $27,500. Coun. Shelly Veroba pointed out the levy is paid by those in the downtown business area. The city then matches the amount. It is not applied to residential homeowners.

The library levy is expected to generate $402,000, or $37.05 per capita for the operations of the 小蓝视频east Regional Library. The city doesn't have a say in how much it allocates to the library each year.

The health levy is expected to generate $100,000, which will go towards the campaign to bring MRI services to Estevan. 

Second and third readings are slated to take place at the May 26 meeting.