FUR FLIES OVER HIKE
Veterinarian Arminder Brar surprised to see assessment for his Delbrook Plaza clinic had increased 77 per cent
North Vancouver veterinarian Arminder Brar was surprised to open the 2019 property assessment for his clinic in Delbrook Plaza and find it had increased 77 per cent, which has him concerned about what that will do to his 2019 property taxes.
An increase in a property assessment doesn’t automatically mean an increase in taxes, but Brar’s is well over the average 25.4-per-cent rise in the average commercial property assessment for the District of North Vancouver, according to B.C. Assessment. That indicates the property will become a bigger portion of the district’s overall commercial tax base, with a correspondingly larger tax bill.
“(I’ve been) here for the last 15 years, but now I’m worried that my taxes will go up,” said Brar, who has taken note of the number of businesses that have struggled to keep up with rapidly changing shifts in property taxes due to increasing real estate values. “People feel happy that their appraisal is up, but they don’t understand the consequences.”
The ballooning of commercial property values, which creates bigger tax burdens for small businesses, has been an increasing problem across Metro Vancouver.
Postmedia News reported last week on a long-running Burnaby grocery-store owner contemplating closure due to a 37-per-cent increase to the rent, driven mostly by the increasing value of the property it occupies.
And Postmedia columnist Dan Fumano recounted the story of Tuesdays Fine Dry Cleaners in Kitsilano, which saw a 24-per-cent increase in its property taxes over just a few years.
B.C. Assessment valued Brar’s 2,250-square-foot, strata titled commercial space at $1.28 million for its 2019 assessment, based on property values as of July 1 last year. Its 2018 assessment was $719,000, on a unit he purchased in 2003 for about $300,000. Brar’s taxes last year on the commercial space were $7,778. He doesn’t yet know what the change in value will mean on his 2019 tax bill.
Those kinds of neighbourhood-specific changes in assessments are typically driven by property sales in the area or as the result of specific assessment reviews, B.C. Assessment’s Keith Mac Lean Talbot said.
MacLean-Talbot said he couldn’t talk about specific assessments because of privacy concerns. Generally in North Van, he said, average values increased just over 25 per cent.
“It all corresponds to what we’ve seen in sales,” said MacLean-Talbot, deputy assessor for Greater Vancouver. “The market has shown that sales values (as of ) July 1, 2018, have been superior to those (as of ) July 1, 2017.”
Records available on B.C. Assessment’s website do show that a neighbouring unit in Delbrook Plaza, a 1,670-sq.-ft. commercial space, sold on June 22, 2018, for just over $1 million, which was almost double its 2018 property assessment of $533,700. And the 2019 assessment for that same unit, 3747 Delbrook Ave., is still less than its sale price at $947,700.
That wasn’t a surprise to Brar, who believes property investors are shifting their attention to commercial real estate, as evidenced in the recent decline in sales and values in residential real estate.
“In one way it is good for me,” said Brar, who has listed his business for sale. “I can sell for a higher price, but taxes should be lower (and more) should be done for small business.”
Brar said property assessments and property taxes make up just one issue that has him considering the sale of his business. It has also become difficult to find and keep skilled employees.