Fewer owners appeal property values
Agency changes process to weed out ‘needless’ filings
Despite the outrage expressed by many homeowners in December when their property assessments increased dramatically, fewer people filed appeals this year than in 2010.
It’s hard to determine if that’s because they just didn’t bother, or if a slight change in the process made by the Municipal Assessment Agency to weed out socalled frivolous appeals actually worked.
During the previous assessment in 2010, about 6,800 property owners filed appeals.
In 2013 that number dropped to 2,982 even though properties across the province experienced increases from 20 to 47 per cent. Some assessments skyrocketed by more than 300 per cent.
The Municipal Assessment Agency, a Crown corporation, is municipally controlled with a board of directors primarily made up of municipal representatives. Every three years it reviews properties in the province — except St. John’s, which has its own assessment department — to determine a dollar value.
That amount is then multiplied by each municipality’s mill rate to determine an owner’s taxes — the main source of revenue for municipalities used to provide services.
One of the possible reasons the number of appeals are down provincially is because the assessment agency tweaked the way it goes about its business.
“Our process has changed. We’ve discouraged some needless appeals. that’s our view of it,” said Sean Martin, the agency’s executive director.
“Previously, we never charged any fee up front. We charged the fee before someone would go to a hearing, but beginning this assessment we charged it up front,” said Martin, adding residents have to pay $25 while commercial appeals cost $100.
“We also offer a no-fee review option whereby we would review the assessment without a fee. If you have a problem with your assessment but you said, ‘Look I don’t want to send in $25,’ our comment would be, ‘If you want we’ll come out and reinspect your property. If we find something that needs to be changed or fixed, we’ll change it,”’ Martin said.
The no-fee review has always been in place but hasn’t been advertised. This year when the assessments were sent out, Martin said the agency took a different approach.
“We didn’t shout about it before,” he said, “but this time around we included a note to say, ‘This is an option for you.’ As well, we included a note about charging the $25 up front. And really it was about trying to control the number of appeals.”
Martin said because the fee didn’t have to be paid until prior to the hearing, people and companies would send appeals without thinking too much about it.
“And the result is we have to log them, review them, track them, and at the end of it they say, ‘ No there’s no need to appeal it now,’” said Martin.
He said charging the fee up front has without a doubt had an affect on the number of appeals filed.
Martin said by the time the assessors weed through the information and speak to the appellants, typically less than five to 10 per cent proceed to the hearing stage.
In Conception Bay South, the number of appeals has actually increased. In 2010, residents and businesses filed 246 appeals. In 2013 there were 325.
Mayor Woodrow French says that’s because his town’s population is steadily increasing.
“I dont think that’s a lot of appeals compared to the number of houses in the town,” he said.
“I haven’t had many phone calls. One lady phoned. She was really upset her house value had gone up 100 per cent, and there’s nothing I could tell her only, ‘Appeal it.’ That’s what I would do to find out what this was based on.”
French said most people understand that municipal assessments are part of a system he says is archaic, since it penalizes residents for upgrading their homes.
“My big concern is we’re a product of the growth on the Northeast Avalon, and my concern is for singleparent families and seniors who are having a real difficult time trying to survive and make ends meet,” said French.
“From a municipal perspective, we’re trying to do our best to provide services that people are demanding and it’s certainly a challenge, but I think residents, for the most part, understand that and I think it’s only where they think they’ve been really aggrieved do they go and file an appeal.”
The City of St. John’s has been doing its own assessments for about 30 years, says Coun. Danny Breen, chairman of the finance committee.
He said that came about when the Department of Municipal Affairs conducted a review and determined the city had enough staff and capability to do its own.
In 2010, 1,200 appeals were filed in St. John’s. In 2013 that decreased to 900.
“I was also surprised, given some of the feedback and commentary at the time,” Breen said of the decrease.
“The other thing that happened, I think, is people accepted there would be a significant decrease in the mill rate and the mill rate decrease was the largest in the history of the city.”
Council decreased the mill rate from 10.6 to 8.1.
“It certainly never mitigated it for all residents — some people still got hit, but a lot of people had their property taxes reduced to a level they were expecting, so I think that played a part of it as well,” he said.
It costs $60 to appeal a residential property assessment in St. John’s. If the homeowner is successful with their appeal, the fee is refundable.