SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City councillor Adrian Bell wants staff to change the city's website in order to make it easier for residents to check the accuracy of tax assessments. This comes after Bell heard from a resident who recently learned he was being taxed for a finished basement in his home which doesn't exist.

A national roundtable on missing and murdered Indigenous women brought together aboriginal leaders and federal, provincial and territorial politicians in Ottawa on Feb. 26 and 27. - photo courtesy of the Status of Women Council

"He'd been taxed for a finished basement for all these many years and he in fact did not have a finished basement," Bell said at the municipal services meeting on Monday.

"We have a few resources for them where they can go find their information but it's not clear for them how to get access for their details."

Bell said oversights like this probably happen a lot.

"The assessor doesn't actually go into the houses and inspect them when these general assessments are done, at least that's my understanding from a conversation with the assessor," he said. "There's a lot that they can tell from the outside of a building. But the cost would be astronomical to go into each and every house, so he doesn't do it. Probably, there are other mistakes that are made and it's not clear to people how they can go about verifying what they're being taxed for."

Bell said other cities, Edmonton for example, have websites explaining what to do to check the accuracy of the assessments but also provides a user name and pin residents can use to log in and review their own assessment details.

"This is information taxpayers want to have," he said. It's not that we're hiding that information but it's not front and centre."

Bell said the City of Yellowknife's website was recently updated to tell homeowners they can get a printout of their assessments at city hall, but they're first prompted to compare their homes with other homes in the area without a clear explanation of how to do that.

"Then we tell them you can also check the accuracy of the assessor's information by arranging an appointment with the assessor," he said. "That's a little bit more work for them to do. Then finally we say if you'd like to have a breakdown of the assessment please contact the taxation division. That seems to be the first thing anybody should do when they're investigating their assessments for accuracy."

Bell said he'd like to see the matter brought forward at next week's municipal services meeting for consideration by city council.

Mayor Mark Heyck said the matter would be considered as a notice of motion.

"Next Monday evening we can consider that new business and then you (Bell) can provide something in writing to the city clerk by midweek," said Heyck.