Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency Commercial Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes for November 20, 2008 Regina, Saskatchewan

Transcription

1 Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency Commercial Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes for November 20, 2008 Regina, Saskatchewan Joint Session with City Advisory Committee Commercial Members Present: Craig Melvin, Committee Chair, SAMA Board Chair Fred Clipsham, City Sector Board Member (non-voting) John Wagner, Rural Sector Board Member (non-voting) Dan Danielson, Education Sector Board Member (nonvoting) Rick Brunsdon, Board Member (non-voting) Myron Knafelc, Board Member (non-voting) Rob Lawrence, of Saskatchewan REALTORS Marilyn Braun-Pollon, Canadian Federation of Independent Business Laurie Ell, Building Owners and Managers Tom Mullin, Hotels of Saskatchewan Pat Earl, Western Grain Elevator Tax Committee David Loader, Canadian of Petroleum Producers Curt Koethler for Jonathan Potts, Tourism Saskatchewan Robert Schultze, Saskatchewan Assessment Appraisers Grace Muzyka, Saskatchewan of the Appraisal Institute of Canada City Members Present: Fred Clipsham, Committee Chair, City Sector Board Member Craig Melvin, SAMA Board Chair Dan Danielson, SAMA Board Member Rick Brunsdon, SAMA Board Member (non-voting) Commercial Observers Present: Norm Magnin, Ministry of Municipal Affairs Dennis Lowe for Ken Dueck, Ministry of Energy and Resources Don Barr, City of Regina Les Smith, City of Saskatoon Michael Kehler, City of Swift Current City Observers Present: Mark Brothen for John Edwards, Saskatchewan Government Relations Don Barr, City of Regina Les Smith, City of Saskatoon Other Observers Present: Neil Hardy, SAMA Board Member SAMA Administration Present: Irwin Blank, CEO Stuart McDonald, Commercial Committee Secretary Brad Korbo, City Committee Secretary Gordon Senz, Managing Director of Quality Assurance Steve Suchan, Managing Director of Technical Services and Policy Shaun Cooney, Director of Policy and Liaison Gord Larson, Director of Saskatchewan Property Assessment Network George Marshall, Manager of Business Process Improvement and Quality Assurance Liaison Agenda Item: 1. Call to Order City Advisory Committee Chair F. Clipsham called the joint session of the City Advisory Committee and Commercial Advisory Committee to order at 10:15 a.m. 2. Introductions Members and observers introduced themselves. 3. Opening Remarks SAMA Board Chair C. Melvin welcomed committee members and observers to the meeting. SAMA Commercial Advisory Committee 1

2 4. Presentation of materials 4a Revaluation Manual and Handbook Amendments S. Suchan gave a presentation and handout on proposed amendments to the: Saskatchewan Assessment Manual 2006 Base Year Market Value Assessment Handbook of Saskatchewan REALTORS: Inquired as to how rented condos would be assessed if the phrase rented condominiums is deleted from the Apartment/Multi- Residential Guide of the Handbook. Saskatchewan of the Appraisal Institute of Canada: Concerned with the proposal to remove the phrase rented condominiums, and that the current wording should be kept. Suggested that rented condos should be treated the same as rental apartments if they are all owned by one person. The Condo Act says that you don t need to consider a reserve fund if all units are owned by one owner. When one unit is sold then need to set up a reserve fund. Suggested that need to have change on the tax side to include rented condo s in the residential tax class. Wants SAMA and the cities to be fully aware and looking at the issue. City of Regina: Sees the phrase as redundant and should be removed. Indicated rented condos will be assessed by the same methods as are used to value them in the market place. Will be looking at the market to decide if rented condos should be compared to apartments or condos. Noted that in the appeal process both parties will need to put forth their respective arguments. All three approaches to value are now available. The appraiser will use the approach that they feel best measures the market value of the property. Concern that an error was made when the Condo Act was changed, and set up on form of ownership rather than property. Condos should be valued on use and construction type, and not on the basis of ownership. Possibly a technical guideline should be developed for rented condominiums. 4b Revaluation Progress Reports and Preliminary Value Trends S. Suchan and S. Cooney provided a PowerPoint presentation on the progress report and preliminary values. of Saskatchewan REALTORS: For the 2013 Revaluation, may need to consider how to mitigate the risk associated with a base date value being higher than the current market value when it is implemented. This would be opposite of the circumstances for the 2009 Revaluation. SAMA Commercial Advisory Committee 2

3 Suggestion that should be showing overall increases instead of shifts relative to each other. L. Smith reported for the City of Saskatoon: Commercial preliminary value estimates are out now. Rest of preliminary values will be out by mid-january Assessment notices will be sent out in mid-february. D. Barr reported for the City of Regina: Residential preliminary values were sent out mid-september. Rest of preliminary values were sent out November 7 th. Fine tuning of values is now being completed. Assessment notices will be sent out December 2 nd. Residential 37% increase, Residential condos 25% increase, Commercial 63% increase, Multi-family residential 34% increase. Commercial will be phased in both increases and decreases with 1/3 in each of 2009, 2010 and M. Kehler reported for the City of Swift Current: Valuations are being finalized this week. Previews to stakeholders and property owners over the next month. Assessment notices will be sent out in February. Residential and commercial are increasing 30-40%. Some shifting from highway commercial back to downtown. I. Blank reported for the City of Moose Jaw: Objective is to complete the revaluation by December 31 st with 2009 annual maintenance included. Planning to have a preview period early in c Revaluation Public Website Application G. Larson gave a PowerPoint presentation and handout on the agency s website application that is being developed for use in early Searches in small town where there are no street addresses will need to be done using the tax map number. Sample copies of seven different assessment notices in use by municipalities will be posted on the web with the number needed highlighted, so that users can find the number on their assessment notice. 4d Strategic Directions I. Blank provided an overview of the agency s four-year planning cycle, the strategic planning that is underway to develop the Four-Year Funding, and the preparation of the agency s Annual Budget and Performance Plan. General Discussion: A client satisfaction survey will be taken in January 2009 and repeated annually in the future. Would need to check with government to see how any legislative changes related to the length of the revaluation cycle would fit into the legislative cycle. SAMA Commercial Advisory Committee 3

4 The policy discussion on the length of the revaluation cycle will be started in 2009 with the expectation that any changes to the cycle will come after the 2013 Revaluation. Expect to start the discussion with advisory committees at the next (April 2009) series of advisory committee meetings. The advisory committees are providing feedback from clients that is invaluable to the Board in getting a feeling on how the agency is doing and the areas that need to be focused on. The Board also undertakes a series of regional meetings every revaluation to get feedback from municipalities, school divisions and property owners Recessed for lunch. 4e. Technological Infrastructure I. Blank reported on a recent technological infrastructure submission the agency has made to the Province: GIS technology needs to be developed first so that it can be incorporated into remote data collection devices (RDCs) for use in the field by appraisers. GIS with RDCs will take 2-3 years to get into the field. 4f. Lean Business Process Improvements B. Korbo introduced and G. Marshall provided a PowerPoint presentation on SAMA s Lean business improvement process initiative. General Discussion City of Regina is using a similar process within Assessment and city-wide. LEAN identifies immediate process improvements in the shortterm for say 75% of improvements. Over the longer term, to get to 100% would likely need technology for the balance. 4g. Quality Assurance and Audit C. Melvin provided an update on improvements to the quality assurance and audit function. There was no additional discussion. 4h. Meeting Format for Advisory Committees I. Blank provided a verbal update on the changes to the meeting format for advisory committees: A survey of advisory committee members following the November 2007 meetings showed a positive response for the new format. The joint committee format will be used again for Joint committee meetings have been scheduled for: o Urban & Rural Advisory Committees on April 22, 2009 o City & Commercial Advisory Committees on April 23, 2009 o Urban & Rural Advisory Committees on November 18, 2009 o City & Commercial Advisory Committees on November 19, SAMA Commercial Advisory Committee 4

5 The joint session adjourned to reconvene in separate business meetings. Business Meeting Members Present: Craig Melvin, Committee Chair, SAMA Board Chair John Wagner, Rural Sector Board Member (non-voting) Rick Brunsdon, SAMA Board Member (non-voting) Myron Knafelc, SAMA Board Member (non-voting) Rob Lawrence, of Saskatchewan REALTORS Marilyn Braun-Pollon, Canadian Federation of Independent Business Laurie Ell, Building Owners and Managers Tom Mullin, Hotels of Saskatchewan Pat Earl, Western Grain Elevator Tax Committee David Loader, Canadian of Petroleum Producers Curt Koethler for Jonathan Potts, Tourism Saskatchewan Robert Schultze, Saskatchewan Assessment Appraisers Grace Muzyka, Saskatchewan of the Appraisal Institute of Canada Members Absent: Fred Clipsham, City Sector Board Member (non-voting) Sharon Armstrong, Urban Sector Board Member (nonvoting) Dan Danielson, Education Sector Board Member (nonvoting) John Kearley, Saskatoon Broadway Business Improvement District Michael Huber, Regina Downtown Business Improvement District Alan Migneault, Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority Ken Suchan, Saskatchewan Real Estate Ted Hillstead, Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce John Hopkins, Regina & District Chamber of Commerce Frank Zinner, Canadian Property Tax Alan Thomarat, Saskatchewan Home Builders Rick Jukes, National Golf Course Owners, Saskatchewan Chapter Observers Present: Norm Magnin, Ministry of Municipal Affairs Dennis Lowe for Ken Dueck, Ministry of Energy and Resources Michael Kehler, City of Swift Current Neil Hardy, SAMA Board Member SAMA Administration Present: Stuart McDonald, Commercial Committee Secretary Steve Suchan, Managing Director of Technical Services and Policy Garth Gish, Inland Terminal of Canada Ken Marsh, Canadian Energy Pipeline Darrell Zwarych, Saskatchewan Mining Kevin Olmstead, Railway of Canada Observers Absent: Colleen Mackenzie, Enterprise Saskatchewan Don Barr, City of Regina Les Smith, City of Saskatoon Joe Day, City of Prince Albert Vacant, City of Moose Jaw Cameron Duncan, City of North Battleford Agenda Item: Call to Order Committee Chair C. Melvin reconvened business meeting of the Commercial Advisory Committee. SAMA Commercial Advisory Committee 5

6 5. Approval of the Business Meeting Agenda 6. Minutes from November 15, Business Arising from the Minutes 8a. Market Value Assessment in Saskatchewan Handbook amendments Moved by R. Lawrence that the business meeting agenda be approved. Moved by G. Muzyka that the minutes of the Commercial Advisory Committee s meeting for November 15, 2007 be adopted. Action items arising from the minutes: 2009 Revaluation Progress Reports S. McDonald reported that an abbreviated update of the progress report was prepared and provided to committee members following the November 15, 2007 meeting. Response to the 2007 SAMA Annual Meeting Resolution C. Melvin reported that Resolution was referred to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for their review of tax policy considerations. Appointment of Alternates S. McDonald reported that only a few organizations responded to a request to appoint alternate committee members. In the future, if a committee member is sending an alternate to attend a meeting then they just need to notify who the alternate is in writing (by ). Moved by R. Lawrence that the valuation of multiple versus single condominium ownership be reviewed and that a technical guideline be brought to the April 2009 committee meeting. 8b. Saskatchewan Assessment Manual 2006 Base Year amendments 8c. Progress Reports 8d. Preliminary value trends 8e. Public website application 9a Strategic Directions 9b. Technological infrastructure 10a. LEAN business process improvements 10b. Quality assurance and audit Moved by G. Muzyka that the report be received. Moved by R. Schultze that the reports be received. Moved by R. Lawrence that the reports be received. Moved by L. Ell that the report be received. Moved by G. Muzyka that the report be received. SAMA Commercial Advisory Committee 6

7 11. Other Business Next meeting of the Commercial Advisory Committee has been scheduled for April 23, Adjournment Moved by R. Schultze that the meeting adjourn at 2:30 p.m. Original signed by Stuart McDonald Stuart McDonald Committee Secretary SAMA Commercial Advisory Committee 7