Calgary,
18
December
2019
|
09:37
America/Denver

City collaborates with businesses to establish 2020 property assessments

A record number of local businesses are benefiting from a City program that takes a collaborative approach to review and set their 2020 property assessments.

The City of Calgary’s Pre-Roll Consultation Period enables non-residential property owners to work directly with The City to consider and discuss before confirming their upcoming property assessment.

Pre-Roll Consultation is part of The City’s commitment to continuously improve customer service by encouraging non-residential property owners to work collaboratively with City assessors to review their market value data before The City determines the final assessed value and 2020 property assessment notices are mailed out.

City Assessor Nelson Karpa says the Pre-Roll program is an opportunity for non-residential property owners and The City to work together and increase understanding. “By securing assessment agreements with non-residential property owners in advance of the 2020 property assessment notice mailing, these taxpayers will be better able to anticipate their share of non-residential property taxes. The City also gains greater fiscal stability, ensuring increased tax certainty of one-third of its overall taxable non-residential base,” said Karpa.

This year, almost 400 commercial, industrial, retail and office property owners and their tax agents took advantage of this City program between Oct. 3 and Nov. 8. Working in partnership with The City’s property valuation team, they examined sales, rental rates and income data before confirming more than 1,200 property values. These discussions confirm more than 20 billion of assessed property value prior to the mailing out the 2020 assessment notices.

Karpa says while these outcomes are significant, The City’s Pre-Roll program also demonstrates a spirit of openness, transparency and the willingness of The City and non-residential property owners and tax agents to work cooperatively. “Pre-Roll provides The City’s property valuation team with opportunities to collaborate more, understand property owners’ perspectives and show The City’s overall willingness to review their estimations of value and real estate data to arrive at fair market value assessments,” said Karpa.

Market value assessment is the most understandable, fair and stable mechanism for the taxation process that municipalities have across Alberta, Canada and around the world. In Calgary, every assessed value goes through three levels of confirmation – internal checks and balances, provincial oversight and, most importantly, review by property owners of individual property values.

Calgary property owners’ next opportunity to check, review and compare their home and commercial property values will start on Jan. 2, 2020, when The City mails the 2020 property assessment notices and the customer review period begins.

To learn more about The City’s property assessment processes, visit calgary.ca/assessment.