City council appears to have fired the organization that hears assessment appeals from property owners and allegedly replaced it with a private contractor.
The Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce held a meeting at the Heritage Inn on May 10 that focused on helping commercial property owners understand their tax assessments. Some topics focused on how property assessments work and how the appeal process works.
During the meeting, Mayor Clive Tolley let slip that city council had “removed” the existing board of revision after making the decision in camera — behind closed doors — at the May 9 executive committee meeting. Council also decided to use a private contractor to handle the work this year.
“So … council made the decision based on the recommendation from the administration that we go with a contractor. It’s the same contractor doing many communities in the province,” he said, but failed to recall the company’s name. “When you go in front of the board of revision next time around, you’ll be going in front of a contracted group.”
The board of revision (BOR) is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal whose function is to hear assessment appeals and determine if an error has been made in property valuation for assessment purposes. The BOR is the first step in the appeal process, while the Saskatchewan Municipal Board is the next step if either the municipality or property owner disagrees with the initial decision.
The board of revision was busy late last year hearing from people because 2021 was a re-assessment year for properties, said Tolley. Since it was so busy, the hearings took longer than usual and the decision reports took longer to write.
“It was an arduous task for a group from the community,” he continued. There were not enough board members to make decisions, so council elected to contract out the work and see if that was better for the community.
“It (the new board) will be a group of professionals who have a little more consistency than the existing group,” Tolley added.
The Moose Jaw Express reached out to the city to confirm whether Tolley’s comments were accurate. However, city hall declined to confirm and noted that council discussed the matter behind closed doors and directed city administration to provide a public report at the May 24 regular meeting.
“The mayor/city manager will be available that night to answer any questions related to the report and any decision of council,” city hall added.
The next regular council meeting is Tuesday, May 24.
