Sue's Blog presented a letter from a couple in St. John's to City Council regarding property assessments. This is a follow-up letter to Andy Wells after he apparently did not provide a satisfactory reply.
Dear Mr. Wells,
Thank you for your speedy response to our e-mail. It seems Council
does not have much authority, besides raising and lowering the mil rate,
when it comes to determining the property taxes in the city of St. John's.
We certainly agree that Councillors should not determine property values
but when assessments have made such astronomical leaps,(our assessment
amounts to almost a 60% increase) it is time for the elected members to
address the issue and find out how these unfair appraisals are being
evaluated.
We are aware of the appeal process but again this is another financial
imposition on the taxpayer.
It appears that presently the assessors have a one track mind and
consider maintenance and repairs as upgrades for real estate evaluation.
All repairs to our property were not done to increase the real estate value
but only due to necessity to keep our family home comfortable to live in.
The municipal taxpayers of Ontario were so fed up that they complained
to the Ombudsman about the drive-by assessments. Based on this, the
Ontario provincial minister of finance decided to freeze any assessments
for 2006-7 for all municipalities until a more transparent and accountable
system can be implemented with concerns and fairness for the rate payers
taken into account. Another concern of the Ombudsman was that property
maintenance and repairs could fall by the wayside because of the extreme
increases in municipal taxes, therefore creating slums in towns and cities.
The present policy of the assessors can also turn the historical
downtown into run down neighbourhoods and slum areas.
Since we have no Ombudsman to present out complaints to, we feel that
this most important issue should be addressed at a Council meeting so that
the St. John's taxpayers can see some transparency and accountability for
such exorbitant increases in taxes and real estate values.
Jim and Patricia
There is apparently an apathy in the city brought about by what is seen as an unfair appeal system. Do you think it's time for an ombudsman. Do you believe that this significant increase in property values will lead to property neglect?
Send me an email or post a response.
Sue's Blog thanks Jim and Patricia for keeping us up to date as they go through this process.
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