by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
NNSL (Feb 19/97) - If it doesn't move, assess it.
That city rationale for assessing property taxes brought local houseboaters before a quasi-judicial tribunal last week. They were appealing their assessments.
Though the matter of jurisdiction over houseboats on Yellowknife Bay is before the Supreme Court of the NWT, the city's manager of assessments said his department still have a job to do.
"Just because the city's made a submission to the courts doesn't mean they shouldn't be assessed," said Grant Lloyd. "I mean, that could go on for years."
Houseboaters at the NWT assessment appeal tribunal hearing maintained the position that their vessels are subject to federal regulation only and therefore not taxable. They also argued the assessments were arbitrary.
Andrea Markowski said assessments for the building portion of similar-sized vessels ranged from $6,320 to $19,400, with hers the highest.
And some of the structures on Yellowknife Bay, including the fish plant, were not assessed at all.
Lloyd, who was accompanied by three assessors and a lawyer, told the tribunal that assessments included a portion of the lake bed each houseboat occupied.
It was the first time any of the houseboats had been assessed, he said.
The valuation of houseboats was part of a general reassessment of city properties ordered by the territorial government in 1995.
"We have a mandate to value that property so we assessed it based on our best estimates," said Lloyd.
Those estimates were made more difficult by a lack of co-operation from at least one houseboat owner.
"The first houseboat we approached we were told quite specifically if we touched or set foot on it we would be charged," he said.
The assessments were initially done in the fall, by counting the number of sheets of plywood used to make up the walls of each home. Once the lake froze, assessors returned and measured the perimeter of each houseboat, said Lloyd.
Members of the tribunal said it will take weeks to make a ruling with reasons.