Rhino's Ramblings - Board Of Revision Decision Hides So Many Issues

By Robert Thomas - Opinion/Commentary

I don’t get it? And what's the big deal?

Those are a few of the comments I received back from local business owners when it came to Mayor Clive Tolley letting it slip at a Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce meeting the present Board Of Revision (BOR) was being let go.

For many they cannot see the big deal about something which was inevitable.

The present appeal system is not working, the system is too complicated and an independent BOR will give better results is the basis for their opinions.

One needs only look at the Mayor’s comments on the issue and that being this entire issue was not dealt with transparently but rather was dealt with behind closed doors.

And not just recently but it now appears throughout its development.

A policy change that did not start to develop recently but rather has been on-going for months if not years in the present as well as past Council.

In many ways Mayor Clive Tolley has been left cleaning up the mess bad assessments and subsequent successful appeals at the local BOR has had on Moose Jaw's commercial property taxes.

“Losses”, or is it bad property assessments - even if temporary - have been transferred to all commercial properties.

It is something which has drawn the ire of commercial property owners who find themselves responsible to make up the amount of taxes lost when one of their fellow commercial property owners is successful appealing their assessment.

Despite what they might say it is obvious from the report from Administration as well as moves by Council that at least some of the blame for the mess is being assigned by the powers to be to the now previous volunteer BOR.

The blame is being affixed due to the high success rate appeals made by the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) to the Saskatchewan Municipal Board.

Appeals which tie up budgeted amounts from the commercial property class and subsequently all commercial property owners have to pony up to make up the difference.

This year it is equivalent to a three percent tax increase for all commercial property owners result in a net property tax increase on commercial properties over six percent.

The successful appeals figures are right there to see - in 2019 all appeals (14) and in 2020 all appeals (20) by SAMA were overturned by the Assessment Appeals Committee. In 2018, 15 of the 29 appeals were overturned and in 2017, 21 of the 28 appeals were overturned.

In the eyes of the powers to be at the corner of Fairford and Main the high success rate by SAMA when they appeal point out the need to get rid of the BOR.

It’s that simple or is it? Could there be another side to the story?

In my opinion there is another side of the commercial property tax issue and that is the high number of appeals which are successful. Plus the BOR dismissed dozens of appeals.

In the last five years there has been 434 commercial tax appeals.

The City agreed to make adjustments on 87 appeals. Those 87 adjustments were recognition, an admission if you like, by the City that SAMA had the assessment wrong.

There were 64 appeals withdrawn with the Board of Revision dismissing 156 appeals.

A total of 156 successful appeals were sent to the Saskatchewan Municipal Board for further appeal.

The BOR has also dismissed dozens of appeals. They are not the rubber stamp for tax agents as some might like to portray them as.

The City for its part has stated the need to hire a private contractor to do the reviews is being done in the hopes of receiving a superior service and less successful appeals headed for further appeal by SAMA.

In my opinion this is sort of a crap shoot, or should be, as given its quasi-judicial stature any Board Of Revision should be impartial and not biased one way or another.

You should not be able to buy “better” decisions by hiring adjudicators who you feel are more likely to side with you is my opinion on this.

But there is more going on behind the scenes.

It’s not just hosting discussions - and a possible decision - behind closed doors or in-camera, thereby lacking transparency and accountability while conducting a major policy shift, but problems within the structure of property taxation in general.

There are critics out there when it comes to commercial property taxation who say “appeal losses” should be shouldered by all taxpayers - agricultural, commercial and residential.

At the same time the critics point out the City needs to change its mindset on property taxation and instead of the status quo look for savings - cuts if you like.

It’s a daunting task as the questions to be asked is where do you find savings? Where do you make the cuts?

Nobody wants to admit there needs to be changes at City Hall and the continual inflationary property tax increase and additional new initiatives the Budget has become is unsustainable.

Simply put we just cannot afford it.

We don’t have the industrial and economic base and subsequent prosperity places like Saskatoon has to pay for it.

Are there savings to be had?

Well take a look at the move of design services from being contracted out to an in-house service subsequently saving the City $500,000.

Savings not realized for years as the service was contracted out.

Now back to the Mayor stating he did not see any harm done releasing what was discussed by Council behind closed doors, in secrecy or in-camera. Call it what you like.

The problem is, if it is well known what is going on, then why the secrecy?

Why is the debate and subsequent seeming pre-determined decisions being made in so many instances in-camera?

Why are so many issues, which could be discussed publicly, done so behind closed doors?

It’s not just about the Board Of Revision the issue is much deeper.

The truth is out there in the City's X Files.