No taxes, land deals and a pipeline of money: There’s no incentive for first nations to go it alone

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In 20 years, only three first nations groups have signed agreements paving their way to independence. There are some other deals in the pipeline, we’re told, but otherwise, the talks have been a bust.

The head of the B.C. Treaty Commission, Sophie Pierre, made headlines last fall when she said the process should be shut down unless more progress is made soon. This, of course, runs counter to what we heard out of the Crown/first nations discussions, where many native leaders lamented the continued tyranny of the Indian Act.

There are many reasons why B.C.’s aboriginal groups have been reluctant to cut the apron strings with Ottawa. Some don’t like the terms of the deals they’re being offered. Some are not yet ready to set sail on their own. Some feel that recent moves by the federal government have profoundly changed the self-government game.

In fact, two pieces of federal legislation passed in the last six years have altered the aboriginal landscape in Canada more than anyone knows.

The First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act (2005) and the First Nations Certainty of Land Title Act (2010) have helped unlock enormous economic potential for aboriginal groups – especially those in urban areas.

Together, the legislation allows native groups to develop their land in ways previously not possible. Among other things, the bills give real-estate projects on reserves the same legal protections as those off reserve. The Certainty of Land act allows bands to transfer property rights to non-aboriginals – which makes developments on their reserves more attractive to investors.

In other words, the bills free first nations groups from some of the most stifling provisions of the Indian Act and gives them control over their future in a way they didn’t have before. But the legislation has also had an unintended consequence: There is less incentive now for aboriginal groups to sign treaties.

While there is much about the Indian Act that native groups abhor, it does assure them of two things that they don’t mind at all: tax-free status and a pipeline of money from Ottawa. After a native group signs a treaty, those benefits get phased out. The whole point of native self-government, after all, is to give aboriginal communities the clout and ability to stand on their own, free of an act that native leaders have described as oppressive and paternalistic.

But many bands have come to depend on their tax-free status and regular federal funding. With recent legislation opening up fresh economic opportunities, many first nations groups can now earn heaps of money and keep their federal benefits too.

This is certainly not a knock against aboriginal leaders who are thinking along these lines. They have politics and elections and the will of the majority to consider. Many of their members don’t want to lose the sure thing they have now. And if they can have their cake and eat it too, why wouldn’t they?

Of course, not all of Canada’s Indian bands will be able to take advantage of the legislation passed by Ottawa – especially those in remote areas. And so long as such groups remain under the Indian Act, they lack property rights. So current arrangements are far from perfect.

To that extent, aboriginal politics in Canada remain as complex as ever. And the pathway to a brighter future is equally elusive.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/gary_mason/no-taxes-land-deals-and-a-pipeline-of-money-why-would-first-nations-to-go-it-alone/article2315067/

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Manitobans back infrastructure tax

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Many Manitobans have strong opinions about public infrastructure, with good reason: they start their days using municipal streets, roads, and sidewalks to get to work or school, and end them by visiting community centres to access recreation and leisure opportunities. Much of this infrastructure is in poor condition.

Yet according to The Economist, Canadian municipalities “lack both money and powers” to address growing infrastructure needs. This leading international publication highlighted the fact that municipalities in Canada “get only eight cents out of every tax dollar” with the majority of municipal revenue coming from property taxes. With municipal budgets being squeezed tighter each year, some municipalities, like the City of Brandon, are looking at implementing significant tax increases.

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities conducted a poll recently to find out what Manitobans think the priorities of the new provincial government should be over the next four years. When asked which of five areas should benefit if the provincial government were to dedicate additional revenues from the provincial sales tax to a specific purpose, 44 per cent of respondents indicated they would dedicate these funds to community infrastructure improvement — well ahead of the numbers for health care (27 per cent) and education (11 per cent).

Respondents were further asked if they would support a one-cent “municipal sales tax” on the condition that these funds would be used only for infrastructure renewal projects. A significant majority of 64 per cent of Manitobans supported this idea — an increase of 10 per cent from 2008, when the same question was asked in a similar poll.

What these numbers really illustrate is that people understand the connection between infrastructure funding and a healthy, prosperous community. They also show that citizens understand the increasing demands they are putting on their local governments. Today, Manitobans naturally and rightfully demand not only essential services like snow clearing and garbage collection, but infrastructure like multi-use recreation facilities. These amenities are important for health, quality of life and sense of community.

Often, facilities that contribute to our health and wellness — and thus reduce health care costs — must take a back seat to the infrastructure we don’t see, like crumbling water and sewer lines. A recent Forbes article refers to infrastructure as “every system under and above ground that allows us to enjoy this thing we call modern civilization. Without well-functioning infrastructure, we’d have nothing even approaching a first world existence.”

New infrastructure, however, is impossible to achieve when the existing infrastructure is anything but well-functioning. In fact, it is breaking down as fast as it can be repaired.

In Gimli, for example, the sewer and water systems were built in 1957, and are now costing taxpayers $100,000 a year just to be patched up. Mayor Lynn Greenberg is quick to note that Gimli has been fortunate to receive federal and provincial funding for both new and aging infrastructure in the past, but there remains a considerable laundry list of needs in the area.

“Waterline replacement will be a $10-million job, sewer line renewal is an $833,000 job, a regional water system will total $34 million, and we still owe almost $8 million on our sewage treatment facility that will mature in 2032,” Greenberg stated. “Where are we going to get the money for all this?”

Other municipalities have pressing issues as well.

“Our RM is 640 square miles and we have many citizens without access to rural water,” says Reeve Kam Blight of the RM of Portage la Prairie. “Without access to safe drinking water, quality of life goes downhill.”

I heard these examples and dozens more last summer while on a tour of Manitoba communities as part of the AMM’s Putting Communities First campaign. They illustrate why the AMM has been calling for a greater portion of revenue from the government to be dedicated solely to municipal infrastructure. This money would generate millions of dollars per year to be shared directly with Manitoba’s 197 municipalities. There is no doubt revenue over and above existing levels would be a positive step forward in addressing Manitoba’s estimated $11-billion infrastructure deficit, as councils would be able to address the specific infrastructure needs of their communities.

Premier Greg Selinger, whose party pledged millions of dollars to health care during last fall’s provincial election campaign, told delegates at the AMM annual convention in November that he would not consider a municipal sales tax.

Yet as Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz asked just days before the election, “What’s the point of investing more money into health care if ambulances can’t navigate our roads?”

More and more Manitobans show that they are in favour of dedicated funding to solve infrastructure priorities. Greater funding in this area would generate much-needed economic spin-offs, as well. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities says for every $1 invested in local infrastructure, federal, provincial and territorial governments receive a combined 35 cents, mainly through new income and sales tax.

In other words, infrastructure spending is not a drain — it is an investment that will help communities. And according to the AMM’s poll, nine out of 10 Manitobans agree that our communities need help.

Doug Dobrowolski is president of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/manitobans-back-infrastructure-tax-138251669.html

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Housing refugees’ top challenge

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Hundreds of refugees arrive in Manitoba each year, each one trying to carve out a home in a city where there are too few homes to go around.

And while social-service agencies push to find their clients safe places to stay, the housing gap leaves many refugees from Africa and elsewhere stuck in a catch-22 that can put their new life on pause for months.

According to a study by University of Winnipeg Prof. Tom Carter, 91 per cent of refugees lived below the poverty line in their first year in Winnipeg. By their third year, that figure dropped to 53 per cent. If that figure speaks to the hard work of new arrivals, it also tells a tale of housing need: For most refugees, transitional and social housing are the only options within reach.

But there’s a waiting list for Manitoba Housing, and affordable apartments get snapped up quickly in a city with a vacancy rate that hovers near a paltry one per cent.

“The only thing which really frustrates me is the housing,” says Mubambe Didier, 44, who landed in Winnipeg with his wife and three children on Nov. 15. “It’s the only thing (missing). If housing would be upgraded to the reality on the ground, it would be much better. But the gap is too big.”

Even though the cold snap in the wind and the snow on the ground are foreign, the Didier family “felt at home right away,” Didier says, hands neatly folded on a table inside refugee agency Welcome Place’s brightly coloured boardroom.

The counsellors from Welcome Place who met them at the airport were “very gentle and kind,” he says; they helped the family learn everything from where to find a doctor to how to take the bus in Winnipeg. And yet, two months later, the family is still living in one of the 31 temporary apartments above Welcome Place’s Bannatyne Avenue offices. Counsellors at Welcome Place and other agencies work to find families like the Didiers a place to stay, but for new refugees on a razor-thin budget, including a social-housing allowance that can hover around $480 a month, there are few options.

That’s the catch-22, said Welcome Place settlement counsellor Aurelio Madut Danto: Until refugees find a permanent address, they cannot apply for a social insurance number, cannot start to work, cannot start to do all the things it takes to get established in a new land.

“The bottom line is affordable housing for newcomers,” Danto says. “The second is finding a job… but housing is the biggest issue for our clients.”

As the pressure mounts, it could become one of the biggest problems for government, too.

At a conference in Edmonton in November, Carter, the Canada research chair for Urban Change and Adaptation at the U of W, called on government to expand its mandate to help boost immigrant and refugee housing. Among the solutions he cited were property-tax forgiveness, reducing land costs and reducing fees to encourage the development of affordable housing.

But the challenges facing newcomers don’t stop there.

Manitoba MP and Liberal citizenship and immigration critic Kevin Lamoureux said the two biggest priorities for settlement services should be language training and help for young immigrants to ensure they don’t drop out of school and get sucked up by gangs.

Lamoureux has spent much of his political career helping immigrants and their families navigate the system and he said while Manitoba does relatively well overall with settlement services, the biggest gaps are for refugees and immigrants who arrive without built-in support systems of family, friends and co-workers.

While most of Manitoba’s immigrants are provincial nominees and often have friends and family on the ground, or jobs on arrival, refugees don’t usually have any of that and have the highest needs.

“Many refugees, including many from Africa, are a lot more reliant on umbrella organizations to provide support because they don’t have family and friends here,” he said. “If you don’t provide adequate supports it can be challenging.”

Ottawa is spending $32 million on settlement services in Manitoba this fiscal year and plans to increase that to $36.5 million next year. Nationally, settlement funding has tripled since 2006. The new formula for calculating settlement-service funding allocations includes a recognition that refugees require higher levels of services, and therefore provinces are allocated money in part on their share of refugees.

For refugees currently languishing over long-term periods in transitional housing, change — however it comes — can’t come fast enough.

Didier acknowledges in some ways, he arrived in Canada in a good situation: He is bilingual and educated; he worked as a logistics officer for humanitarian agencies in his native Congo until war and corruption forced him and his family to flee to Uganda and, finally, to Canada.

But this doesn’t make it easier or less anxious for Didier when his children worry about when they might be able to start school. When it comes to housing the waiting is, indeed, the hardest part.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/housing-refugees-top-challenge-137551398.html

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Don’t need our money? Lower taxes!

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You won’t find their work in any art gallery, but these politicians are among the most talented artists around.

Some city councillors have turned wasting tax dollars into an art form of late. A tour de force was on display Wednesday when the executive policy committee voted to give $10,000 to help install a large artwork at the University of Manitoba.

The 15-panel work was removed from a wall at the old Winnipeg airport terminal and will be erected on the exterior of the Max Bell Centre.

Plenty of air travellers familiar with Eli Bornstein’s work think it’s pretty ugly, but that’s irrelevant. This move has nothing to do with the City of Winnipeg. The city’s own administrators recommended denying the U of M’s request, but that didn’t stop a majority of EPC members from voting to blow your hard-earned tax dollars on the project.

We can only hope the grant application will be turned down when city council as a whole votes on it.

Earlier this month two members of the city centre community committee voted to give $100 each from their ward budgets to help cover the costs of a group that had gathered outside the Winnipeg Remand Centre to sing Christmas carols for inmates. The grant application listed bus tickets among the costs of the event.

Two hundred dollars might not be a lot, but using city funds to cover the transportation costs of people who serenaded inmates is particularly galling considering a bus fare hike took effect that same week.

What a masterpiece of mindless spending.

Still on the subject of bus fares, city hall’s governance committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie’s idea to give $3,000 from his ward allowance to a women’s shelter to pay for bus fare.

While this is no doubt a worthy cause, the fact is it’s not up to city councillors to throw public funds at whatever they feel like.

The next time councillors want to spend money on something the city has no business in, they should reach for their own wallets. City funds should be spent on core services like road repair and public safety. If councillors have money to spare, then clearly our taxes should be reduced.

These funds belong to the public and councillors shouldn’t spend it on whatever issues tickle their fancy.

It’s really not that complicated. We shouldn’t have to paint them a picture.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/01/14/ed-dont-need-our-money-lower-taxes

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Strong market means house prices to rise in major cities, realtor says

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Canada’s housing market will continue to be strong this year, with rising property values expected in all major markets, real estate brokerage firm Royal LePage said Thursday.

The company’s forecast called for prices across to country to rise 2.8 per cent by the end of 2012, after stronger gains last year.

Even pricey housing markets in Metro Vancouver and Toronto – where standard two-storey homes averaged $1.1 million and $629,188, respectively, in the last quarter – will see continued price appreciation in 2012, though the gain for Metro will be more muted, according to the broker-age firm’s forecast.

Metro Vancouver is expected to see its average house price climb 2.3 per cent to $802,000 in 2012, while Toronto is expected to see a 2.6-per-cent jump.

“Widespread calls for a major real estate correction in 2012 simply can’t be justified,” Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper said in a statement.

“The industry has significant momentum entering the year, and buoyed by the stimulative effect of very low interest rates, we expect the market to continue to expand – albeit at a slower pace.”

However, Royal LePage said stronger gains will be seen in cities benefiting from commodity-based economies, such as Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg, where price gains will be in the range of four to five per cent.

According to the company, in the fourth quarter of 2011, the average price of a standard two-storey home in Canada was $375,427, up 4.2 per cent from a year earlier.

The average rate of a detached bungalow was up 6.1 per cent to $344,392, while condominiums gained 3.6 per cent to $234,680.

Statistics Canada reported Thursday that its new housing price index rose 0.3 per cent in November, following on a 0.2 per cent increase in October, and was up 2.5 per cent yearover-year.

Price increases in Toronto, Oshawa and Montreal offset declines in Calgary, Metro Vancouver and the Ontario metropolitan regions of Sudbury and Thunder Bay, the agency said.

In Vancouver, Statistics Canada said some builders offered promotional pricing in order to sell units, which helped push new-home prices 0.3 per cent in November from October, and made the

Builders in the other areas reported lowering prices in order to stimulate sales and remain competitive, while price increases elsewhere were attributed to higher material and labour costs.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has forecast the average price of a listed homes for resale to be $363,900 this year, up 1.2 per cent from 2011. The Canadian Real Estate Association predicted that the aver-age price would be relatively flat at $362,700.

Both forecasts were made in November.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Strong+market+means+house+prices+rise+major+cities+realtor+says/5990636/story.html

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Real estate flatline

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The relentless climb of Nanaimo property values paused for a breather last year. Assessment notices went out to all Nanaimo property owners last week and many are finding the value little changed from 2011.

Average values for single-family homes, based on property assessments done by the agency on July 1 are down 1.27% from 2010.

Values rose slightly in several areas, but most neighbourhoods saw values down.

The most noticeable drops are clustered in north-end neighbourhoods, though central and south Nanaimo did not go unscathed.

One central-Nanaimo area saw average values down more than 10%.

A decade-long period of almost continuous growth was sidelined in 2011 by events outside local market forces. Housing sales slipped, especially at the higher end of the scale, where there are fewer buyers. Property values that doubled during the 2000s stopped rising. For the smart buyer, it creates a rare opportunity to get an ocean-view or waterfront property.

It isn’t the first time Nanaimo’s housing industry has skipped a beat and it is the nature of real estate markets to run in cycles.

“You look at the pressures in the market – unemployment, challenges with new builders, with HST, overall higher-end market challenges, it’s got to come out,” said Jim Stewart, Vancouver Island Real Estate Board past-president.

Realtors saw 2011 end with an average home selling price of $362,680, just $305 less than a year earlier, or essentially unchanged.

“Late last spring there was waiting with anticipation for the outcome of the HST vote, and (then) everyone was waiting to know who the next premier was to set the agenda for the year. Then in the fall everyone was concerned about the world market. Is Greece going to fail? You look at little Vancouver Island, there are places elsewhere in Canada prices are down doubledigit,” Stewart said.

The 2012 assessment roll puts a total value on all Nanaimo property at $12.742 billion, the bulk of which, $10.769 billion, is residential.

Those numbers are down slightly from 2011′s $12,683 billion total and $10.786 billion in residential. Those totals include about $1 billion in churches, downtown revitalization, pollution-control and other taxexempt property classes.

The B.C. Assessment Authority divides the city into 17 neighbourhoods, and the numbers it produces for each neighbourhood are what matter to homeowners.

Excluding apartments, vacant lots and condominiums, Jingle Pot/College Heights and Hawthorne saw average property values rise the most, at 1.14%. Average home values rose by less than 1% in Chase River/Cinnabar, Uplands/Sunshine Ridge/ Country Club, Hammond Bay and the extended downtown core areas.

The most noticeable drop was in the Commercial Industrial Bowen/Northfield area, where assessments fell 10.28%.

All other areas saw average values drop, with decreases of greater than 4% assessed in Townsite/Hospital, Dover/Dickenson, Long Lake North Island Highway and Protection Island areas.

For most homeowners, this year will be easier than most to figure out their property taxes simply by looking at their property’s assessed value.

Because the average value is so close to 2011, anyone whose assessment is close to last year’s can expect to pay close to the tax rate set by city council this spring.

“Assessments are unchanged, so it should be relatively easy to tell,” said Bill MacGougan, Nanaimo assessor.

While the HST and a sluggish economy are both hurting sales in higher-end properties classes, some see it as an opportunity to buy that dream property.

“When you think the average waterfront home is $800,000, if you get something for less than $800,000 it’s probably a pretty good buy,” Stewart said. Those deals exist because “there’s not that many buyers in that range.”

First-time buyers would be wise to make 2012 a year to renovate, rather than sell.

“If you bought in the last year or so it’s going to be challenging for you to exit on the profit side,” Stewart said.

http://www.canada.com/Real+estate+flatline/5983621/story.html

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To freeze or not to freeze: that is the question

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Winnipeg politicians will soon decide whether to continue the property-tax freeze for a 15th consecutive year.

Council finance chairman Scott Fielding (St. James) said officials have started to review whether it’s possible to maintain the property-tax freeze for the 2012 operating budget, the blueprint that outlines spending on all city programs, including police, pest control and snow removal. Fielding said it will be a challenge to continue the long-standing tax freeze, but there is a possibility the city may be able to transfer a surplus from the 2011 budget in an attempt to stave off a hike.

The latest city financial report at the end of October forecast a $600,000 surplus by the end of 2011, due in part to additional permit revenue and savings from its summer street program and corporate expenses. Fielding said it’s possible the city picked up additional surplus money in November and December, though officials will not have the year-end total until late January.

“It is going to be challenging to maintain a property-tax freeze,” Fielding said.

Last year, Winnipeg’s operating budget increased by $30 million from the previous year due to the rising cost of police and emergency services. About 40 per cent of Winnipeg’s $847.4-million operating budget in 2011 was devoted to police and fire paramedic services.

The city hiked property frontage levies to cover the cost of increased program spending.

Coun. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge) said only members of council’s executive policy committee are involved in operating budget discussions and she does not know how big of a funding gap the city faces. She said Winnipeg is coping with the cost of hiring additional police officers, pension benefits and paying down debt.

Gerbasi said cities such as Calgary have imposed modest property tax increases every year to generate revenue, while Winnipeg has frozen it for so long programs are “starving.” She said it’s possible the city is looking at raising fees — such as the frontage levy — like it did last year to avoid a tax increase. Gerbasi said she and other members of council worry executive policy committee may consider selling city-owned assets such as golf courses to generate revenue.

“A lot of us are very concerned about it,” Gerbasi said.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze-that-is-the-question-136645423.html

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Homeowner grant threshold raised to $1.285M

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The B.C. government has raised the threshold for homeowner property grant to $1.285 million to accommodate rising property values.

The news comes as hundreds of thousands of annual property assessments are being prepared for B.C. property owners by the government. Last year, the threshold was $1.15 million. The grant effectively reduces the property tax paid by most B.C. homeowners by up to $1,045

Every year the province adjusts the grant to ensure 95.5 per cent of homeowners receive the full amount of the grant. Those with homes above the threshold may still be eligible for part of the grant.

“The homeowner grant provides a maximum reduction in residential property taxes on principal residences of $570 in the Capital, Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley regional districts and $770 elsewhere in the province,” said a statement issued by the government on Tuesday.

“An additional grant of $275 is available to those who are age 65 or over, permanently disabled or a veteran of certain wars,.”

“We continue to see challenging economic times around the world. By maintaining the homeowner grant, we continue to help families with the costs of owning their homes,” said Finance Minister Kevin Falcon in the statement.

The grant is only available to Canadian citizens and to landed immigrants who normally reside in B.C.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/01/03/bc-homeowner-grant.html

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Big bus fare hike pending

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Winnipeg Transit fares will increase a nickel on Sunday, but whether they’ll go up another 20 cents on June 1 remains to be seen.

On Nov. 16 city council voted 8-6 in favour of a surprise proposal from Coun. Justin Swandel to add 20 more cents on top of a routine five-cent increase in bus fares and dedicate the difference to rapid transit expansion.

“The ridiculous conversations that go on between the city and province are not going to fund our infrastructure. We’ve got to get off our butts and fund this thing,” Swandel said at the time.

The five-cent increase is going ahead as planned Jan. 1, making the full cash fare $2.45 as of Sunday. However, both the city and province have said the extra 20 cents will only be added June 1 if no other funding mechanism can be found to raise the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to expand Winnipeg’s fledgling rapid transit system.

So far it doesn’t appear as though there’s been a lot of movement in the six weeks since the vote.

“We have until June. If the province comes up with an alternative source, which everyone can agree on, then it won’t happen. Otherwise it probably will happen. We still have time to work on that one,” Mayor Sam Katz told the Winnipeg Sun just before Christmas.

Premier Greg Selinger’s preference is to fund the line with tax increment financing, a sort of back-door funding mechanism that sees the money roll in once the project is complete.

“We thought tax increment financing would be a way to look at financing it. As rapid transit expands, there are opportunities for urban development projects, and the revenues generated off that can pay for the infrastructure,” he said.

TIF, introduced by the provincial government just a few years ago, allows the government to divert a portion of the property taxes from certain properties when their assessed value increases. The province hopes rapid transit corridors will spur development nearby, which will increase the value of those properties. When the value increases, so too do the property taxes, and the province would divert the difference in its education portion back to the city.

Whether or not that can raise the $200 million or more needed to push rapid transit to the University of Manitoba remains to be seen.

Transit riders would be well advised to start saving their nickels just in case.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/12/28/big-bus-fare-hike-pending

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Reassessment jump may not mean tax hike

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YOU opened your property reassessment notice back in June and probably shrieked in horror.

Yes, the portioned assessed value of all properties across Winnipeg has increased by 14.6 per cent over the past two years, said Nelson Karpa, the city’s director of assessment and taxation.

Shudder.

But does that mean your school property taxes will go up that much?

Probably not.

OK, so that’s not all that reassuring, but let’s walk through it and figure out whether you’re going to get whomped on your school taxes next year after trustees set their budgets in March.

Bottom line, the Selinger government has been encouraging school boards to freeze their property-tax increases, dangling tax incentive grants in front of school board noses. If Education Minister Nancy Allan renews the grants — she’ll issue her annual funding decree in late January — then, if your property’s value increased close to the average, your bill shouldn’t change much.

Let’s take the Winnipeg School Division as an example.

The value of all houses has gone up 14.56 per cent between April 1, 2008 and April 1, 2010, calculates chief assessor Karpa.

If your property’s reassessed value is in that ballpark, you should be laughing.

If your property went up 25 per cent, then yes, you’ll pay more in taxes, because you’ll be paying a greater share of the overall tax burden. If it went up six per cent, you should be paying less in 2012.

Why won’t it stay exactly the same, if you’re at 14.56 per cent and the WSD trustees freeze taxes? Because. Depends. Listen up.

The value of apartment buildings has gone up substantially higher than houses, so apartment building owners will pay a greater share of the tax burden, thus reducing the hit on homeowners by a few bucks.

But the value of businesses, with the exception of those in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division, has gone up at a slower rate than houses’ value, so a few dollars and cents of the business share of the tax burden shift over to individual homeowners.

And finally, there will be new properties coming on the tax rolls for the first time, which should nudge down existing properties’ share — such as new homes in Waverley West, Sage Creek, Amber Trails.

Clear?

The jump in values is nowhere near as dramatic as in the last reassessment two years ago, which was based on a five-year change in market values, said Karpa. This increase is smaller: “Values are still going up, but not to the same trajectory,” he said.

Two years ago, there was a considerable shift from business to homes, but the change in their relative values has been far less significant a change this time.

“It’s not a very material shift,” Karpa said.

The values of owner-occupied condos have shown the most fluctuation, rising about twice as much in Seven Oaks than in Pembina Trails and St. Norbert.

And just to complicate, confuse and confound the picture even more, mill rates will go down next year if school boards freeze taxes. Lower mill rates mean a lower tax bill, right?

Um, no.

Municipalities and school boards calculate mill rates by dividing the assessment base into the amount of money they want to collect through property taxes.

If school boards freeze property taxes, then the only new money will be provincial grants, and the amount collected through taxes should remain constant.

A larger assessment base divided into a constant amount of property taxes collected produces a lower mill rate.

But since that lower mill rate gets multiplied by the higher property value to produce your tax bill, it should all even out.

Obvious, eh?

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/reassessment-jump-may-not-mean-tax-hike-136420428.html

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