City council has rehired Meota-based Western Municipal Consulting Ltd. (WMC) to provide board of revision services for 2024, continuing a partnership that started nearly two years ago.
During its Feb. 12 regular meeting, council voted 5-2 to have WMC manage the property assessment appeal process from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 for $45,000, although this amount is contingent upon the number of appeals it receives.
Councillors Jamey Logan and Kim Robinson were opposed.
Furthermore, council agreed to pay $250 as a main fee, $50 per hour for the board secretary and $90 per hour for a senior consultant and per board member.
More than two dozen individuals are part of the BOR, including Dave Gurnsey, Donna Rae Zadvorny, Jeff Hutton, Mike Waschuk, Stew Demmans, Wayne Adams, Femi Ogunrinde, Maureen Jickling, Corey Zaharuk, Christopher Blueman, Mike Meleca and Kimberly Speers.
Others include Dave Thompson, Gordon Parkinson, Kevin Kleckner, Murray Dean, Tim Lafreniere, Ken Friesen, Fife Ogunde, Jamie Tiessen, John Krill, Alan Sawatsky, Hany Amin, Nick Coroluick and Rick Leigh.
Council also agreed that the board chair would be responsible for naming no fewer than three members to hear any matter, and where the chair is absent, members appointed for a hearing will determine a chair from among themselves.
Also, council appointed Kristen Tokaryk from WMC as board secretary. If she cannot fulfill her duties, she may appoint a delegate to perform some administrative functions and act as recording secretary.
Background
A board of revision is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal responsible for hearing assessment appeals to determine if the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) has made an error in the valuation or classification of property, a council report said.
Furthermore, each municipality is responsible for appointing a board and secretary since this body is the first level that property owners have to appeal their property assessments.
City hall opened the assessment role last May, during which it received 138 appeals, the report continued. While officials dismissed three appeals, the remainder were either commercial/industrial properties (85) or residential/multi-unit properties (50).
Meanwhile, the supplemental role was open from late November to late December, with city hall receiving three commercial appeals.
Responding to concerns
Some community business owners expressed concern to council last year about their experiences with the BOR, specifically, WMC’s poor communication, the report said. So, the city manager, city clerk and assistant city clerk met virtually with members of WMC to discuss those concerns.
The private contractor provided a checklist it uses during each appeal “to ensure consistency and professionalism” in its process. Administration and WMC then agreed improvements to the notification and communication process would include WMC telephoning appellants if the latter failed to receive a virtual acceptance email.
Some business owners also expressed concern about the number of people attending the appeal hearings and how officials provide public notices for hearings, the report continued. However, the document noted that The Cities Act sets out terms for hearing notices, while there is no requirement for public notices for local or district boards of revision.
Seeking other boards
City administration said it contacted three other provincial boards on a 26-member list about providing services, but only two — Norquay-based East Central Municipal Alliance and Watson-based EQWL Regional Board of Revision — responded, said the report. These two boards serve adjacent rural municipalities and villages and focus mostly on agricultural and residential properties.
Both boards said they receive fewer than 15 appeals annually, with most addressed through agreements to adjust, while area businesspersons and agricultural professionals comprise those bodies, the document added. The two bodies told city hall they were not interested in expanding their services to Moose Jaw.
The Moose Jaw Express will feature a separate story with council’s comments on this issue.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Feb. 26.
