Joint Information Session With The Commercial Advisory Committee

Transcription

1 Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency City Advisory Committee Conference Centre, Ramada Hotel Regina, Saskatchewan Joint Information Session With The Commercial Advisory Committee City Advisory Committee PRESENT: Members: Fred Clipsham, Committee Chair Craig Melvin, SAMA Board Chair Carol Carson, SAMA Board member (non-voting) Pat Lorje, City of Saskatoon Mike Kehler, Saskatchewan Assessment Appraisers Association (alternate) Observers: John Edwards, Saskatchewan Government Relations Velma Geddes, Saskatchewan School Boards Association, Administrator Joe Day, City of Moose Jaw Don Barr, City of Regina Gord Lawson, City of Regina SAMA Administration: Steve Suchan, Committee Secretary (for Brad Korbo) Shaun Cooney, Director of Policy and Liaison Nancy Wollner-Epoch, Regional Manager, Moose Jaw Irwin Blank, CEO, SAMA ABSENT: Members: Dan Danielson, SAMA Board member Dale McBain, City of Moose Jaw Garry McKay, City of Moose Jaw Fred Matheson, City of Prince Albert Greg Dionne, City of Prince Albert Pat Fiacco, City of Regina Vivian Lund, City of Regina Allan Earle, Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, Board Member Mike St. Amand, Saskatchewan School Boards Association Marlys Bilanski, City of Saskatoon Observers: Maryellen Carlson, Saskatchewan Government Relations Laurent Mougeot, Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, Executive Director Brian Grant, City of Moose Jaw Vacant: Vacant, City of Regina SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 1

2 Commercial Advisory Committee Commercial Members Present: Craig Melvin, Committee Chair, SAMA Board Chair Fred Clipsham, City Sector Board Member (non-voting) Sharon Armstrong, Urban Sector Board Member (nonvoting) John Wagner, Rural Sector Board Member (non-voting) Art Scherr, Board Member (non-voting) Tracy Fahlman, Regina Downtown Business Improvement District Alan Migneau, Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority Ted Hillstead, Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce Marilyn Braun-Pollon, Canadian Federation of Independent Business Tom Mullin, Hotels Association of Saskatchewan Archie Cameron, National Golf Course Owners Pat Earl, Western Grain Elevator Association Tax Committee Rick Johnston, Canadian Energy Pipeline Association Mike Kehler, Saskatchewan Assessment Appraisers Association Grace Muzyka, Saskatchewan Association of the Appraisal Institute of Canada Commercial Observers Present: Ken Marsh, Canadian Energy Pipeline Association Norm Magnin, Saskatchewan Government Relations Colleen Mackenzie, Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, Industrial Development Don Barr, City of Regina Gord Lawson, City of Saskatoon Joe Day, City of Prince Albert SAMA Administration Present: Stuart McDonald, Commercial Committee Secretary Irwin Blank, CEO Shaun Cooney, Director of Policy and Liaison Nancy Wollner-Epoch, Regional Manager, Moose Jaw Agenda Item: Joint Committee Information Session 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 10:10 a.m. 2. Opening Remarks SAMA Board Chair C. Melvin welcomed committee members and observers to the meeting, and explained the Board s rationale for joint advisory committee meetings. 3. Introductions C. Melvin introduced the SAMA Board members present. Other members and observers introduced themselves. 4. Presentation of Materials 4a. SAMA 2009 Revaluation Publication Amendments S. Suchan gave a PowerPoint presentation and handout on proposed amendments to the: Saskatchewan Assessment Manual 2006 Base Year SAMA s 2006 Cost Guide Market Value Assessment Handbook General discussion: The three principles adopted by the Board for the 2009 Revaluation were developed and recommended by the Technical Development Committee. The four-year revaluation cycle is set out in The Assessment Management SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 2

3 Agency Act. Legislative changes would be needed to shorten the revaluation cycle from the current four-year cycle. Recommendations would come through SAMA, but Government Relations would carry it forward. In the Board will hold public meetings to review the 2009 Revaluation, following which consideration of a shorter revaluation cycle may be undertaken. Because the Sask. Assessment Manual is regulatory all changes, including typographical changes, are brought forth to the advisory committees before being passed into regulation by the Board. To be consistent and for transparency, typographical changes to the non-regulatory guides (SAMA s 2006 Cost Guide and the Market Value Assessment Handbook) are also brought to the advisory committees. 4b Revaluation Progress Reports S. Cooney provided a summary of the status/progress of all jurisdictions in completing the preliminary valuations for delivery to the Province for tax policy analysis by December 31, City of Saskatoon reported: Over 90% response rate from commercial property owners to the income and expense questionnaire. Residential and condominium valuation models are complete. The initial valuation of hotels and shopping centres on the income approach has been done. In early 2008 will be sending out preliminary values to commercial property owners to review before they are finalized. City of Regina reported: Have already provided Government Relations with a text file for preliminary valuations. There is an issue with parcel matching that the city will need to work through with Government Relations. Have a 70% response rate from commercial property owners to the income and expense questionnaire. This is up from 50% in June. Fully into development of the income models now. Preliminary valuations for commercial properties will be based on trend analysis. 4c. Response to 2007 SAMA Annual Meeting Resolution I. Blank gave a PowerPoint presentation and handout on the proposed response to the one resolution that was adopted by municipalities and school divisions at the agency s 2007 annual meeting in June. General discussion: The SAMA Board needs to deal with the resolution because it was passed at the agency s annual meeting. The Board s responsibility is to look at the underlying issues and decide how to best proceed. The issue raised in the resolution is a very real concern that needs to be treated seriously. The solution put forth in the resolution would be a shift away from market valuation principles. The R.M. of Piapot No. 110 sponsored the resolution: o Market value didn t work for farmland because of boundary sheers between municipalities. o A growing issue for resort areas and country residential areas. o There are no tax tools for RMs to manage the shifts. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 3

4 o Rural municipalities abated taxes without consulting school divisions. o What options are there that will deal with the issue for resorts and country residential in rural municipalities? o The same resolution was passed unanimously at the 2007 SARM convention, and passed again at the 2007 SARM midterm convention. If the solution presented in the resolution isn t workable, then someone still needs to figure out how to deal with the issue. Canadian Energy Pipeline Association: Concerned that resolution calls for a move away from market value assessment. Allowing municipalities the option to choose their neighbourhoods politicizes the assessment valuation. It would be more appropriate for local governments to deal with the issues using tax tools. Municipalities shouldn t be allowed to compromise the assessment valuation. Saskatchewan Association of the Appraisal Institute of Canada: Cautious that the policy might get revised when only 36 of over 800 municipalities and school divisions in the province voted on the issue. It has taken 10 years to move to the market value standard, why is there a resolution to change this now? Recognized that a similar policy change was adopted for farmland and questioned the reasoning for this. Saskatchewan Assessment Appraisers Association: Concerned ethically that appraisers would be required to not abide by the principles of valuation. City of Saskatoon: Concerned the change proposed in the resolution would hurt just as many property owners as it would benefit. If the issue needs to be managed, then it should be done on the tax policy side. Canadian Federation of Independent Business: The Commercial Advisory Committee has consistently pushed to move assessment policies to implement market valuation principles. What the resolution proposes is contrary to market value assessments. 4d. SAMA Planning Cycle Blank provided a summary 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. 4e. Committee Terms of Reference I. Blank reviewed recent changes to the terms of reference for all advisory committees. Organizations are now being asked to name two alternates that could attend on their behalf when their appointed member is unable to attend. Alternates will be allowed to propose and vote on motions. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 4

5 Clarified that observers attending advisory committee meetings can participate in the discussion, but cannot propose or vote on a motion (this is not a new procedure). Some voting members will now be paid an honorarium and travel expenses to attend advisory committee meetings. 4f. Delegation Shopping Centre Allocations The committee received a delegation from AltusDerbyshire representing shopping centres. Members of the delegation were: Christine Van Staden, AltusDerbyshire Doug Hamilton, AltusDerbyshire Robert Gagne from AEC International also attended as an observer for anchor tenants (Sears and WalMart). The delegation provided impact information and a proposed regulation prior to the meeting, which were distributed to committee members along with other materials for the meeting. Comments made by the delegation in response to questions from committee members: Concerned that with the change from a cost based assessment system to a market value assessment system, that there will be a significant shift in taxes from anchor tenants to central retail unit (CRU) tenants. The problem is a function of those long-term leases that were developed under a different tax regime (cost approach valuation procedures), so didn t consider market value concepts. The leases will probably be renegotiated when they come due. Many jurisdictions (ie. Manitoba) ignored the issue when they moved to market value assessments. o In Manitoba, rents on CRUs increased $8/sqft in one year. Alberta passed regulations to phase-in the shift over 10 years. o Under the Alberta regulations, the phase-in is only done at the owner s request, the assessor has to do the phase-in calculations, and the owner pays for the work to be done. o The City of Edmonton s assessment department contracts the work out to a private appraiser. The proposed regulation reflects something similar to what was done in Alberta. The objective is not to eliminate market value assessments, but to try mitigate the impact on CRUs. o The assessed value of the property would not be affected. o The property owner would continue to pay the same amount of taxes. o The regulation would deal with the internal distribution of the taxes by the property owner to the CRU and anchor tenants. The delegation wants to work with stakeholders to develop a solution by February o Currently there isn t agreement among all of the businesses within the malls, so need to work on the solution with them as well. There is a dispute resolution mechanism built into the regulations. When the buildings are on separate parcels and assessed separately, the regulation wouldn t come into play. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 5

6 Comments made by Robert Gagne, AEC International: The anchor units want to understand the issue and see what the options are for moving forward. I. Blank distributed a letter to the agency from F. Zimmer regarding the position of the Hudson s Bay Company, an anchor tenant. City of Saskatoon: Concerned with the assessment department getting involved in the contractual arrangements between landlord and tenants within a shopping mall. The onus should not be on the assessor. If the CRUs and anchors can agree on a reallocation, then they shouldn t need regulations to make it happen. Observed that there was not a big outflow from CRUs in Manitoba s malls when that province moved to market value assessments. Government Relations: Observed that the delegation s proposal for a regulated solution appeared to be asking government to override private lease agreements. Observed that the proposal would require legislative amendments because there is no existing authority to deal with it through regulation. Saskatchewan Association of the Appraisal Institute of Canada: Observed that if the mall s CRU and anchor tenants agreed to a different allocation scheme than set out in their leases, that they should be able to deal with it themselves. City of Prince Albert: Observed that the letter from F. Zimmer indicates there is one mall that is concerned with the potential for government interference in lease agreements. Observed that mall owners are not currently asking the assessor for allocations when one assessed value is determined for the entire property. Saskatchewan School Boards Association: Observed that the potential looser would appear to be anchor stores. Concerned if the proposed regulation would mean that the government was interfering with lease agreements. Committee Chair C. Melvin concluded the discussion noting that: The agency s advisory committees may not be the forum in which to examine the issue because they were set up for a different purpose. If the delegation can obtain a consensus between the affected parties, then it would be largely a government responsibility if the consensus were to regulate a solution. Committee Chair C. Melvin thanked the delegation for providing the agency and its advisory committees notice of the issue and the discussions that it plans to undertake with its stakeholders. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 6

7 City Advisory Committee Business Meeting (1:30 p.m.) PRESENT: Members: Fred Clipsham, Committee Chair Craig Melvin, SAMA Board Chair (attended latter part of meeting) Carol Carson, SAMA Board member (non-voting) Rick Brunsdon, SAMA Board member (non-voting) (attended latter part of meeting) Pat Lorje, City of Saskatoon Mike Kehler, Saskatchewan Assessment Appraisers Association (alternate) ABSENT: Members: Dan Danielson, SAMA Board member Dale McBain, City of Moose Jaw Garry McKay, City of Moose Jaw Fred Matheson, City of Prince Albert Greg Dionne, City of Prince Albert Pat Fiacco, City of Regina Vivian Lund, City of Regina Allan Earle, Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, Board Member Mike St. Amand, Saskatchewan School Boards Association Marlys Bilanski, City of Saskatoon Observers: John Edwards, Saskatchewan Government Relations Velma Geddes, Saskatchewan School Boards Association, Administrator Joe Day, City of Moose Jaw Don Barr, City of Regina Gord Lawson, City of Regina SAMA Administration: Steve Suchan, Committee Secretary (for Brad Korbo) Shaun Cooney, Director of Policy and Liaison Nancy Wollner-Epoch, Regional Manager, Moose Jaw Irwin Blank, CEO, SAMA (attended latter part of meeting) Observers: Maryellen Carlson, Saskatchewan Government Relations Laurent Mougeot, Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, Executive Director Vacant, City of Moose Jaw Vacant: Vacant, City of Regina Call to order Meeting was held in the Qu Appelle Room, Regina Inn. Prior to the meeting, evaluation forms were handed out with a request by the Committee Chair, Fred Clipsham that they be filled out at the end of the meeting. This will allow SAMA to obtain feedback regarding the new presentation format of the Advisory Committees. Review of voting member status: Gord Lawson to act as an alternate to Marlys Bilanski (City of Saskatoon). Joe Day to act as an alternate to Fred Matheson (City of Prince Albert). Mike Kehler to act as an alternate for Mike Schulkowsky (SAAA). 5. Approval of the Business Meeting Agenda MOTION by Gord Lawson that the agenda be adopted as presented. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 7

8 6. Minutes from the previous meeting. MOTION by Mike Kehler that the minutes of the City Advisory Committee meeting held February 23, 2007 be adopted. 7. Business arising from the minutes. 1. Agenda item 3 page 1, first paragraph: legislation that allows percentages of value to be removed from the assessment roll. Government Relations (GR) representative: There is nothing going on at this time with no plans to change existing legislation. City Representative: Would like to see the legislation to be permissive. In revaluation years, assessment notices may be sent out before percentages of value are set by GR. Government Relations Representative: Their view is that they see this as needing to be a requirement. GR s goal is to have percentages of value set by September/ Page 4, Motion by Rick Brundson regarding rolling averaging method for valuation of railways used in 2006 Base Date Manual. SAMA Administration: The 2006 Base Date Manual has been revised to remove the rolling averaging method. 3. Page 5, 5 th paragraph: Training of Boards of Revision. Government Relations Representative: Development of Boards of Revision (BOR) training materials is in progress with an updated draft being sent out today. The meeting scheduled for November 19 th, 2007 will be delayed as assessment jurisdictions are currently heavily involved in 2009 revaluation activities. General discussion on BOR members being selected and setting up process for appeals. Moose Jaw may likely hold Board of Revision in Other cities will likely be in Page 6, fourth paragraph: clarification that the Manual is a regulation while other SAMA publications (Market Value Assessment Handbook and SAMA s 2006 Cost Guide) are not. SAMA Administration: The prefaces of the Handbook and Cost have been substantially revised to fully disclose they do not have the force of law. As well the preface explains how these three documents inter-relate. 5. Page 12, agenda item 9, first paragraph: Lack of representation on Advisory committees, perhaps a different meeting format. SAMA Administration: The meeting format has been changed as per the discussion in the minutes. SAMA administration would appreciate feedback on this new meeting format. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 8

9 Revaluation SAMA Publication Amendments. Majority of amendments are typographical errors. No comments were made. MOTION by Pat Lorje to receive the report Revaluation Progress Reports Prince Albert Revaluation Status Comments Committee Chair: Information session this morning indicated that Prince Albert would not be using income approach. Prince Albert Representative: They are finding there is not much of a rental market in Prince Albert for traditional income type properties. There is little activity in high-rise office towers. In summary there seems limited value in using the income approach to value. They do have good market indicators (sale prices, appraisals) for enclosed malls. They support the income approach, but it is not required for Prince Albert at this time. Committee Chair: One concern raised at yesterday s advisory committee meetings was that under current practices, the income approach can t be used; but for 2009 it will be. Will there be an issue with not requesting income data on appeal? Prince Albert Representative: The largest properties have provided appraisals. Is some concern for smaller strip malls as there is less market data. Appeal process will have to determine if income is necessary to support value. There has been discussion that income is the best approach (for income producing properties); but need to consider if location does or does/no support the income approach. You do not have to use the income approach to estimate market value. Expects there will be challenges in Prince Albert based upon the income approach. Saskatoon Representative: The income approach is one way to value property, but not the only method. There is also the cost approach, sales approach. The assessor has to use what market data you have. SAMA Administration: Would you be looking for income data for various types (ie. larger) income properties? Prince Albert Representative: There are two sales of two large enclosed malls which will be used in their analysis. Prince Albert Representative: Will be able to provide preliminary values by December 31/07. Currently working off a stand-alone system, and will move over to the regular CAMA system shortly. Can generate 2009 preliminary values at anytime. Swift Current Revaluation Status Comments Swift Current Representative: Will be using estimates for preliminary values. Clarification that income will be used for multi-family property but not in preliminary value estimates. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 9

10 Regina Revaluation Status Comments Regina Representative: They are on track for providing preliminary values by December 31/07. They have provided a test file to Government Relations (GR). In the test file, are issues with GIS data (many to many relationships); will take some work to fix the holes in the map. Will be further work on some valuation models. Much energy/resources expended in doing income analysis. Anticipate that in first quarter of 2008, income models will be finalized. They have many sales to work with which is good for analysis. Regina Representative general comment regarding Prince Albert s plans not to use the income approach: Many smaller communities in Alberta (Red Deer) didn t initially use the income approach when they moved to the market value standard. They now use the income approach in many commercial properties. Cost approach can now be fined tuned with the use of income data to measure obsolescence. SAMA Board Member: Did Red Deer have many appeals when the income approach was not used? Response: Unsure of the level, but would have had some appeals anyway. Saskatoon Revaluation Status Comments Saskatoon Representative: Is in the same position as Regina. Today is the cut-off for analysis, now will be doing numbers in order to send before Christmas (will take a month). Preliminary aggregate values will be stable as compared to final values. Final values should be ready by February/March of Will be doing a preview of values with stakeholders for feedback. CD Consulting Revaluation Status Comments SAMA Administration: Discussions with CD Consulting indicate that they anticipate everything will be ready on a MAF basis by the end of November/07. They plan at looking at MRA (sales comparison model) for residential properties early in Committee Chair: Commented on Government Relations being ready to release Percentages of Value by September, 2008 for the 2009 revaluation. Government Relations Representative: For last two revaluations, GR took values and inserted them into a computer model to project tax shifts (municipal/school/grants) and study scenarios. Are now in the process of redeveloping this model and are currently testing it. Are a few fixes occurring. Discussion on GIS problems with the vendor of software. New model can go down to the parcel level. GIS helps to analyze the data better. Expects some refinement is displaying some of the information. New functions of model include education tax grants, boundary changes modelling, application of local tax tools. Model will be accessible on the internet for use by municipalities. MOTION by Mike Kehler to receive report. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 10

11 10. Response to 2007 SAMA Annual Meeting Resolution Committee Chair: Provided comments regarding the resolution to initiate discussion. Should this resolution be addressed in assessment system or in taxation system? Saskatoon Representative: From the assessors viewpoint, the more you fiddle with the assessment system to more problems you have. This could be a problem in the smaller jurisdictions, but is ultimately a taxation issue. Government Relations Representative: Provided an overview of existing tax policy available in rural municipalities. Saskatoon Representative: SAAA has an issue with this resolution as it causes ethical concerns; this should be considered. As an assessor, has a concern if his Council instructed him to combine all 10 of his market areas into one; lets not change the market value standard we are working towards. Regina Representative: I regards to the original issue that resulted in the resolution, was there a problem with limitations of the current assessment system? Will this limitation be resolved with the 2009 revaluation. Noted that the strong building economy in Calgary is now coming into Saskatchewan. Is there something wrong with current assessment or is this a tax issue? SAMA Board Member: Resolution would like something like the agricultural land model. There are relatively few RMs affected. Believes there is something SAMA should be able to do. There has been a request for more tax tools, but was refused by Government Relations. Would like this issue to be resolved in the assessment system as makes the tax system too complicated. Regina Representative: The issue may be a blend of assessment (proper valuation techniques) and tax tools. Saskatoon Representative: In BC people are able to have the taxes applied as a lien. This softens the blow for low-income people. SAMA Board Member: Reference to the state of California property assessment laws (Proposition 13). Prince Albert Representative: Hopefully for 2009 more accurate (to the market) assessed values will be determined. This resolution as a taxation issue. Shifting of the school tax is the key concern when assessment policy is changed. Note: Rick Brunsden attended the meeting at this time. SAMA Board Representative: In listening to the discussion, the resolution may not have the correct solution, but the issue seems serious enough that a collaborative solution exploring all options should be considered. Wants SAMA to be credible in view of stakeholders. Is hard for stakeholders to see that SAMA can t solve the problem. There needs to be collaboration for a solution. SAAA Representative: The SAAA has the position this resolution is contrary to ethics adhered to by the SAAA. The executive of SAAA will have a formal position on this issue. SSBA Representative: Their school board has 80 municipalities. The School board SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 11

12 is concerned that they need to treat all people fairly within the school division. There are equity concerns. SAMA Board Member: Municipal Councils can currently just abate taxes (ie. for situations where this issue applies). The resolution shouldn t change the total aggregated assessment for a municipality. Government Relations Representative: General comments on tax tools. Tax tools that cities have would likely not solve this specific problem. Could possibly use a minimum tax to resolve the issue in the resolution. The main problem with this resolution is that it makes assessments more political as councils will decide the assessment. Is not aware of a single solution to this issue. Note: Irwin Blank and Craig Melvin attended meeting at this time. Saskatoon Representative: There seems to be agreement that we are looking for a polite way of saying we don t want to accept this resolution. SAMA Board Member: Is hard to specify the solution when you don t know the extent of the problem. Need a way to move forward. Need a collaborate effort to examine and resolve the problem. MOTION by Mike Kelher that the committee not support the principle of affecting assessment contrary to the definition of equity in the municipal acts. But have SAMA explore other remedies to this issue. SAMA Administration: Commented on the use of property tax circuit breakers used in other jurisdictions. SSBA Representative: Is struggling with what the issue really is; assessment, taxation, social issue? Note: The SAAA representative left the meeting at this time. 11. SAMA Planning Cycle Government Relations Representative: Timing of the four year budget is something to think about. In second quarter of 2009 could take as a standalone to Treasury Board. The later in the process you take this to Treasury Board, the later you get a response. Need to keep this in mind (ie. may want to present to Treasury Board sooner as a stand alone item). Committee Chair: Suggested that SAMA administration provide these comments to the SAMA Board. MOTION by Craig Melvin to receive the report. 12. Committee s Terms of Reference MOTION by Pat Lorje to receive the report. SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 12

13 13. Other Business a. Shopping Centre Allocation General discussion on the shopping center allocation presentation from the earlier session. The phase-in proposed is over more than one assessment cycle and this is an issue. Saskatoon Representative: It would seem it is not in our place to discuss this as it is tax policy. SAMA Board Chair: Alberta implemented legislation regarding this issue due to the strong outcry by the CRU tenants. Consultants now moving forward to act upon this situation as Saskatchewan moves to a Market Value standard in This is a tax concern, but hard to say where it will end up. It need to go to government and not SAMA. MOTION by Pat Lorje that we recommend that Saskatchewan follow the Manitoba model rather than the Alberta model as we do not believe that this is an assessment issue. Additional general discussion about the original presentation. b. Questionnaire on the joint meeting format The Committee Chair requested the members fill out the questionnaire on the joint meeting format. Adjournment MOTION by Gord Lawson that the meeting be adjourned. Steve Suchan (acting for Brad Korbo) City Advisory Committee Secretary SAMA City Advisory Committee Page 13