Lakefront owners may get break, thanks to frozen assessments

Ron Seymour 2008-11-28 Kelowna Daily Courier:

Waterfront property owners could be among the main beneficiaries of the provincial government‘s decision to freeze property assessments. Kelowna‘s new city council, which takes office Monday, will get its first look at the proposed 2009 civic budget on Dec. 15. Councillors will go through the budget in early January and set the tax rate to be applied next July. In past years, it could be difficult for individual property owners to figure out their tax increases, even after the budget was set. That‘s because a key factor was how much their property had increased in value relative to other residential properties in the city. If a person‘s home went up in assessed value by more than the residential average – as was often case for waterfront property owners – they would see a tax increase greater than the one provided for in the city budget.Conversely, if a property went up by less than the average increase, or declined, they would see a below-average tax increase or reduction.

This year, however, the provincial government has frozen assessments at July 1, 2007, levels. Victoria says a valuation date of July 1, 2008, would not be accurate since property values have fallen significantly since then. What this freeze in assessment rates means, in essence, is that most people will see a taxation increase close to the council-set level, with no wide variations. Last year, council increased total taxation demand by 10 per cent, from $81 million to $89 million. But almost half of the increase was accounted for by revenue from new construction, so average existing property owners saw their taxes rise 5.7 per cent. Finance director Paul Macklem said the downturn in the construction industry means the city will get less taxation revenue from new construction.