YORKTON - Yorkton Council has appointed a new firm to take on the role of Board of Revision for the city.
The Board of Revision serves as an impartial body tasked with hearing property assessment appeals to ensure valuations are fair and accurate. Comprised of at least three members, the board excludes municipal council members, municipal employees, and school board trustees from tax-collecting divisions to maintain objectivity and reduce conflicts of interest, detailed a report circulated to the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Dec. 16.
Municipalities are mandated to appoint a Board of Revision annually to address assessment appeals before finalizing the assessment roll.
In recent years to manage the complexities of property valuation, the City has strategically outsourced the Board of Revision to private, professional boards.
The City received notice from the Nor-Sask Board indicating that they would not be able to serve in 2025.
When seeking out alternate services Western Municipal Consulting Ltd. (WMC) was the only board that responded positively to taking on the City as a client, noted the report. Council would unanimously support their appointment for 2025.
The report also noted that 2025 is a revaluation year.
In addition, SAMA is conducting a residential re-inspection with results set to coincide with the revaluation.
This combination is expected to generate a high volume of appeals, a common occurrence when assessment increases follow revaluation and/or re-inspection, detailed the report.