City council liked the work Western Municipal Consulting Ltd. (WMC) performed last year for Board of Revision duties so much that it has re-hired the Meota-based company for another year.
Council hired the Saskatchewan business last June for six months to act as the Board of Revision (BOR) and hear business owners’ property assessment appeals. The hope was that WMC would provide more timely and favourable property appeal decisions compared to the former citizen-composed board.
WMC received 74 property appeal claims last year, with six resolved by agreements to adjust, eight withdrawn and 60 sent to the Saskatchewan Municipal Board, a council report said. Of those 60 appeals, five were successful in having their assessments overturned.
The city paid WMC $44,735.45 for its service during the six months, whereas in 2021, it paid the in-house BOR $41,475.
The report noted that there were 117 appeals in 2021, 29 claims in 2020, 82 appeals in 2019, 100 claims in 2018 and 106 appeals in 2017.
During the Jan. 23 regular meeting, council voted unanimously to appoint WMC to manage BOR duties from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023, with BOR members being Tim Lafreniere, Mike Waschuk, Gordon Parkinson, Dave Thompson, Wayne Adams, Jeff Hutton, Dave Gurnsey, Murray Dean and Stew Demmans.
Furthermore, council agreed that the board chair would be responsible for naming no fewer than three members for hearings of any matter, and if the chair were not included in that group, the three members would determine a chair from among themselves.
WMC’s Kristen Tokaryk will also act as board secretary, but if she cannot perform her duties, she can appoint a delegate to perform administrative functions and a recording secretary for hearings.
Both the board members and Tokaryk will be financially compensated, with the secretary paid $50 per hour, the senior consultant $90 per hour and board members $90 per hour, the report said. Board members will receive a pay increase this year since they received $75 per hour last year.
There will also be other costs, such as 60 cents per kilometre for mileage and 15 cents per page for printing.
“We (the city) have a limited role in the property assessment process,” city manager Jim Puffalt said during the meeting, noting the costs between an in-house BOR and WMC are “roughly the same.”
Council is responsible for deciding what type of BOR will best serve the municipality, so it contracted WMC – an independent entity – last year for the first time, he continued. WMC was responsible for deciding how appeals are managed without influence from the city.
The province amended several regulations last year related to the property assessment appeal system, which – among other things – require all BORs to be certified to hear appeals starting with the 2023 taxation year, Puffalt said. Furthermore, the changes regulated fees that boards can charge municipalities that use those services.
“Western Municipal Consulting is certified by the province of Saskatchewan to provide this service. With regards to the service, we know that the work was completed in a timely fashion, again at the same cost,” he added. “So, we suggest that we carry on with that process for 2023.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Feb. 13.
