Kam Lake residents demanding change
Two-hour city meeting to discuss averages 34 per cent jump in assessed property values
Simon Whitehouse
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, July 23, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Kam Lake residents expressed complaints about the steep increase in general assessments earlier this year, during a packed meeting at city hall on Saturday morning.
The meeting with council and administration by citizen request was attended by more than 50 residents and lasted more than two-and-a-half-hours.
The general assessments are conducted by the city every seven years, but following the latest assessment released last month, residents have complained that their reassessments saw property tax increases as high as 300 per cent.
The last assessment was in 2006 and some councillors point out that the industrial park has changed dramatically since then. Changes have included the construction of Deh Cho Boulevard, the creation of the Engle Business District and Grace Lake subdivision, as well as more residences on a number of lots.
According to Coun. Niels Konge, the average tax bill in Kam Lake went up 34.63 per cent.
Members of administration have said council will have options within two weeks that could alleviate concerns about the raised assessments.
Members of the Kam Lake Property Owners Association attended in order to tell the city that the mill rate is too high.
"Being how we are on gravel roads or bumpy roads, with no water and sewer, and no high traffic like in downtown, we feel it would be advantageous for the city to give us a different mill rate and assess us differently," said Gord Olson, owner of Polar Tech, who owns property on Utsingi Drive.
Olson said he saw a 20-per-cent increase this year because he purchased a new lot since the last assessment and didn't have old assessments. "
We think that the mill rate shouldn't just be a blanket mill rate across the commercial world, but that it should be a look at (each) area."
Olson said the biggest sticking point in Kam Lake is that about $1.5 million comes out of the industrial area of the city every year, yet residents often feel "ignored" when it comes to the city's reinvestment in services in the area. Additionally, lots in the Engle Business District have been getting tax breaks, which makes matters worse for people in Kam Lake.
"We feel that the property values aren't what they are being appraised at," he said. "If this was at the same playing field where we had a beautification project and our ditches were nicely mowed with flowers growing and rock gardens and all the junkyards were kicked out of here, then sure I would play the game.
As it is, we are at the edge of town and we aren't in a beautiful area. Another tax is not what we needed right now."
The city has stated that no penalties will be applied to residents who can't afford to pay for the increases right away.
Konge said he wants to find ways to assure "fair and equitable" taxes to property owners in Kam Lake, rather than postponing tax payment, but he ultimately left the meeting feeling disappointed.
"I feel disappointed in myself, angry with administration and not happy with the whole situation at all," he said.
"I think that whole community believed administration that assessments would go up, mill rates would go down and we would look at a three per cent increase.
"I do think it is a bit late."
Coun. Cory Vanthuyne said council may be able to look at being more flexible with property owners.
"We may be able to look at a situation where (property owners) might pay what they might have paid last year and then the increase you receive this year might be made payable over two to four years," he said.
"That portion would not receive interest, but would be interest free."
The city may be able to have more a more flexible tax process than is currently done, according to which all commercial and industrial properties are taxed the same. There could be an opportunity in the future to look at creating additional tax categories, he said.
Yet another option could be changing the city's traditional practice of balancing tax revenue equally among commercial, industrial and residential properties.
"The goal may be that if we see a growth of residential, which we have, then maybe it is better to have residential carry more of the weight if we are not necessarily seeing commercial industrial growth take place," he
said.
