BC Assessment says closure will boost efficiency

Bruce Walkinshaw - Penticton Western News Published: January 26, 2010 6:00

BC Assessment is defending a decision to close down its Penticton office by Dec. 31, asserting that the move will improve the company’s ability to serve the city’s residents. The closure is part of a plan to consolidate both its Penticton and Vernon offices into its Kelowna location, saving taxpayers, according to the independent provincial Crown corporation, an estimated $441,000 annually. None of the nine Penticton employees (or 13 Vernon ones) will lose their jobs, but they will have to work in Kelowna. The decision upset members of Penticton’s council who expressed concerns that the employees would either have to endure a daily commute or move to Kelowna. “We should try to keep these (jobs) in Penticton ... so that the employees don’t have to commute for an hour and they can go to their kids soccer game,” said Coun. Andrew Jakubeit. “(Once they) have to commute maybe their shopping all of a sudden ends up in Kelowna and before you know it they set up in Kelowna because it is a lot easier to live there than commute,” concurred Mayor Dan Ashton.

“As (BC Assessment) re-centralizes... it hurts the communities,” agreed Coun. Mike Pearce. “It hurts us not only in the loss of the employees and (potentially) all their families but also hurts us in now we are relying on someone to come down here from Kelowna to do an assessment on a place. “I don’t know how someone in Kelowna can know and understand the local nuances of (the Penticton) market on a day-to-day basis. They just can’t.” Council had staff write a letter detailing their concerns. Responding, BC Assessment president and CEO Connie Fair said that while the consolidation was expected to save money, that was not the primary justification for the move. Fair said the main reason for consolidating the Penticton and Vernon offices into the Kelowna one is to more effectively produce assessment rolls and provide better services to BC Assessment’s customers. “In recent years BC Assessment has moved from appraisal generalists to appraisal specialists. This means that we now operate out of 10 regional offices across the province where specialists value property types in teams with provincewide co-ordination,” wrote Fair. Currently, Fair explained, staff in the Vernon and Penticton offices are only responsible for assessing single family residential properties within their area. By moving them to the Kelowna office, she said, the staff will benefit from working at an office that covers the entire Okanagan region and that values other property types: office, retail, strata residential, farm and industrial.“This model of regionalization and specialization was applied across the province beginning in 2002,” said Fair. “We have found numerous advantages to this approach including better province-wide co-ordination of assessments, improved efficiencies gained through teams as opposed to individuals, greater opportunity for cross-training, succession planning and career advancement, more effective training, lower appeals and higher satisfaction scores on customer surveys.” Fair said that physical proximity to the properties the company values has become less important as they use modern assessment and customer service techniques that rely on technology, such as aerial photography or internet information sharing.

“We do recognize the importance of face-to-face interaction and require each office to have regular contact with their local government clients,” said Fair. “Where property owners find it necessary to speak directly to one of our staff, we make ourselves available at their convenience in their community and will continue to do so in the future.”

BC Assessment is governed by a board of directors appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in council, with a mandate to produce uniform and efficient property assessments on a yearly basis for all property owners in B.C.