Over 60 property assessment appeals received by city during Q2, report says

The city clerk’s office received more than 60 assessment appeals from property owners during this year’s second quarter, with two-thirds of those appeals coming from the commercial sector.

The finance department opened the 2024 assessment roll on March 28, with property owners given until April 26 to appeal to the board of revision, said a second-quarter report presented during the Aug. 26 regular city council meeting.

The city clerk’s office received 61 assessment appeals, with 49 coming from commercial entities and 12 coming from residential entities. The office then forwarded the appeals to Western Municipal Consulting, a private company based in Meota, Sask., which council hired to manage this task.

Meanwhile, between April 1 and June 30, the city clerk’s office authorized eight bylaws, signed 60 agreements, received and completed seven freedom of information requests and digitally archived 35 records. 

Bylaw enforcement

The number of inspections that bylaw enforcement officers conducted during Q2 included:

• Animals: 4
• Boulevards: 35
• Miscellaneous: 7
• Property maintenance and nuisance: 189
• Clean sidewalks: 1
• Zoning: 1
• General inquiries: 73
• Total: 310

Meanwhile, year-to-date, from Jan. 1 to June 30, bylaw officers made 505 inspections compared to 1,049 during the same period in 2023.

City hall demographics

The City of Moose Jaw employed 378 people as of June 30, which was the same number as June 30, 2023, the report showed.

Work experience data showed that:

• Less than five years: 51.5 per cent
• Five to 10 years: 17.6 per cent
• 10 to 15 years: 11.5 per cent
• 15 to 20 years: 8.2 per cent
• 20 to 25 years: 5.6 per cent
• More than 25 years: 5.6 per cent

Data for employees’ ages showed that:

• Under age 20: 12.2 per cent
• 20 to 30: 20.7 per cent
• 30 to 40: 22.7 per cent
• 40 to 50: 20.9 per cent
• 50 to 60: 13.8 per cent
• Over age 60: 9.7 per cent

Also, men comprised 58.9 per cent of the workforce while women made up 41.1 per cent. Furthermore, 2.3 per cent of all employees identified as indigenous, 4.1 per cent were a visible minority and 1.8 per cent had disabilities.

The next regular council meeting is Monday, Sept. 9.