The City of Yorkton will be phasing in changes to commercial property taxes caused by the recent provincial reassessment.听
These property assessments are based on information such as property sales, building permit information, cost information, as well as income information obtained by SAMA through its income verification process, explained Ashley Stradeski 鈥� Director of Financewith the City at the regular meeting of Council Monday.听
鈥淲hile the City is not increasing the tax it鈥檚 collecting this year, we do recognize that property revaluations can have an effect on how much tax a property owner can pay, sometimes significantly. To offset this, we are proposing a Commercial Property Tax Phase-in to offset the volatility that could be experienced due to the revaluation,鈥� explained his report circulated to Council.听
In order to do a phase-in of tax changes, we had to come up with some criteria as to who we are phasing in and why. In analyzing criteria, fairness to all commercial property owners was one of the main factors, and as such we are recommending that we phase-in all tax changes for all commercial property owners over a 3-year period, explained Stradeski.听
This will have the impact of reducing any change to taxes from prior year for property owners by two-thirds in 2021, one-third in 2022, and the full effects in 2023, the third year.听
This will affect every single commercial property, though many will not be materially affected; for example, if a property owner鈥檚 taxes were only going to change by $15, they will still have this phased in, noted the report.听
鈥淭he phase in works for all commercial properties, regardless of whether the impact of the revaluation would be an increase or a decrease in taxes 鈥� this must happen for it to be a net zero to the City鈥檚 revenues. If this is not net zero, then the City would have to raise its general rates, and we would be effectively shifting taxes from higher value properties to lower ones,鈥� it stated.听
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