More informative tax notices may cost city extra $5,000 per year

Insert provides information about where levies come from and where they go

After a test run in 2017, the sending out of information brochures with tax notices is going to continue into 2018 and beyond, if council approves the measure.

“That is our recommendation to council, that we continue to include an insert that we included this year, to ensure openness and transparency to our customers in our communications,” said Deborah Bryden, director of assessment and taxation.

Following the provincial budget release in March, city administration was directed to include a onetime tax insert into the 2017 tax notices to explain the three taxing authorities, the 2017 tax increases and the amount of provincial funding lost after the termination of the SaskPower and SaskEnergy grants-in-lieu programs from the province.

Four options will be presented to council to choose from in the report from city administration. The first option does not change anything about tax notices, the second option adds an information brochure, the third option would be a three-page document plus cover letter and the fourth option would be two separate tax notices each with a cover letter and would be mailed separately.

City administration is recommending the second option, which would cost an extra $4,982.29 per year. All notices and brochures would still be produced in-house and processing time would remain at 11 days.

“It is the most cost-effective option and it provides customers with a significant amount of information,” Bryden said. “The other options, they are more expensive and would take more system changes and requirements.”

The third option would have created an extra $20,000 in costs and processing time would increase from 11 days to 35 days. The fourth option was the most expensive by far, with an increase of $89,625.24, as well as an additional $20,000 for external design and focus group costs.

The preferred option by city administration will include information on how property taxes work, and the city’s role in collecting taxes on behalf of other taxing authorities. Where appropriate, tables and graphs will be included to explain the allocation of tax dollars. Municipal spending will also be broken down by each major category.

So far this year, residents have been split on whether they find it beneficial to know where tax dollars come from and what they go into.

“There has not been a lot of conversation about the insert. Some customers do take it from the perspective that it is their property taxes and they will just pay them,” Bryden said. “Other customers want to know where their tax dollars are going.”

Council will decide on which recommendation to choose at the June 26 council meeting.

Other customers want to know where their tax dollars are going.