Tank: Saskatchewan’s goofy property tax regime slams Saskatoon

Residential property values in Saskatoon have risen 13 per cent, while commercial property values dipped under Saskatchewan’s outdated reassessment regime.

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If you only visited the dentist once every four years, you would probably expect bad news about the health of your teeth.
That analogy certainly fits Saskatchewan’s outdated approach to property assessment for tax purposes — a process that happens once every four years and can aptly be compared to an unpleasant dental procedure.
Saskatoon property owners started receiving notices in the mail last week alerting them to the reassessed value of their properties, which will determine how much they pay in property tax.
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For some, the new value will amount to a simple dental cleaning; for others it will more closely resemble a full root canal, perhaps without freezing.
Overall, Saskatoon homeowners can expect some pain. But perspective is needed.
Property values for residential homes rose by 13 per cent over the last assessment cycle four long years ago. For single family homes, the increase is an identical 13 per cent (with a median assessed value of $394,200), while the value of condominiums rose by five per cent (with a median value of $216,500).
The value of multi-family properties rose a substantial 24 per cent (median value $1.96 million).
That means significant rent increases are coming for people living in apartments.
These changes are based on the assessed value more than two years ago on Jan. 1, 2023, thanks to the province’s goofy reassessment regime.
Yet when it comes to commercial properties, the opposite has happened, with an overall decrease of two per cent in value. Commercial values dropped despite a 10 per cent jump in the value of industrial properties (median $1.5 million).
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However, retail properties declined by 10 per cent ($1.4 million) and office properties plummeted by 17 per cent ($1.3 million). And it might be a good time to buy a hotel in Saskatoon, with values dropping 13 per cent ($8.6 million).
The decline in the value of commercial properties might deliver some good news for the poor business owners in Riversdale, who seem to routinely get battered by the wild swings in the ridiculous reassessment cycle.
Assessing property every four years brings with it severe inconsistency that often makes no logical sense.
For homeowners in Saskatoon, this could well mark the first time in eight years that their property value has increased. As city hall is striving to make clear, though, a 13 per cent jump in property values does not mean people’s property taxes are going up 13 per cent.
The mill rate is designed to spread the pain around. As a message from city hall explains, if your residential property increased in value by more than the benchmark 13 per cent, your share of property tax will go up. But if your value increased by less than 13 per cent, your share will go down.
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It will certainly deliver a shock for some residential property owners, as the last assessment cycle registered a decline in value of seven per cent. Commercial property values rose by eight per cent four years ago.
We knew a decline was coming four years ago based on a downturn in the real estate market, just like we knew an increase was coming this year based on higher prices.
In 2017, residential property values rose by 12 per cent, but that probably seemed like a relief after a staggering 83 per cent rise four years earlier.
If those big swings seem ludicrous, blame it on the province, not the city. The rest of Western Canada has opted for more frequent, far more sensible property value cycles, while Saskatchewan is mired in the property assessment stone age.
In Saskatoon, if you think your assessment is unfair or inaccurate, you now have less than two months to appeal it. But be warned: the rate of successful appeals is dismal.
Appeals are designed to test whether the property assessment model was applied correctly, not to expose the inherent flaws that most other jurisdictions in Canada have figured out.
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If you have a problem with your property assessment, you should also contact your government MLA — but there’s only one of those left in Saskatoon.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
@thinktanksk.bsky.social
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