Prince Albert city council approved a report Monday on the cost of the city’s Assessment Department, but debate around the motion quickly moved beyond dollars.
Property assessment is the value placed on a home, business or other property for tax purposes. It does not set the city’s budget by itself, but it helps decide how the tax load is shared among property owners. That is why changes in assessment can become a major concern for residents and businesses.
Coun. Stephen Ring’s motion asks administration to review the current municipal costs of the Assessment Department and its structure for generating the city’s assessment tax roll. It also asks for a cost comparison if the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency, or SAMA, generated the city’s assessment tax roll, and for possible hybrid options and their costs.
Ring said the motion was about transparency and information, not privatization.
“This is more of a motion of getting a report out to the public in an open, transparent way,” Ring said.
He said residents have asked what the department does, how the city gets its assessment roll and what the service costs each year.
“This is not intended to be privatization of this service,” Ring said. “Never has that been the intention.”
The motion came after labour organizations raised concerns in written correspondence that the review could lead to contracting out or privatizing assessment services.
Ring said SAMA is not a private company, but part of Saskatchewan’s assessment system. He said Prince Albert, Swift Current, Saskatoon and Regina are the only four municipalities in Saskatchewan with their own assessment programs, and that other municipalities have assessment rolls generated through SAMA.
Some councillors supported the motion as a basic report request.
Coun. Blake Edwards said council was not deciding to change the department.
“It’s not deciding anything today,” Edwards said.
Coun. Darren Solomon also supported getting the information, but said he would not support privatization.
“I do want to know what this is costing us, why, and why did we go to this model,” Solomon said.
But Coun. Dawn Kilmer said she would not support the motion as written. Kilmer said it is appropriate to review service delivery, but she said the concerns she hears from residents and businesses are less about structure and more about understanding the assessment system.
“The greater challenge isn’t about the cost or the structure of how our assessment works,” Kilmer said. “It’s about understanding how assessment works.”
Mayor Bill Powalinsky also said cost may not be the main issue.
“I don’t get the sense that people are questioning the cost of the process,” Powalinsky said. “They’re looking at an evaluation of how accurate or how effective we are in the product that is being produced.”
Powalinsky said residents do not always understand why similar-sized properties in different parts of the city can be assessed differently. He said any review should consider whether assessments are fair, effective, efficient and accurate.
“Cost shouldn’t be the only factor,” he said.
Ring said he was not questioning the assessment procedures or guidelines, but wanted the public to see whether the city is getting the best service for the dollars spent.
The motion carried.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
