CASUAL LEGAL: Municipal Tax Assessment and the Test for Leave to Appeal

Municipal Tax Assessment and the Test for Leave to Appeal

By Emma Banfield

Reynolds Mirth Richards Farmer LLP

AMSC Casual Legal Service Provider

A new leave to appeal decision from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal considered the criteria for leave to appeal a municipal tax assessment. At issue in the case were the assessments of five properties, which included enclosed malls and related pad sites. The assessor used the cost approach (as previous assessors had also done) to determine the appropriate tax assessment. The landowners disputed the method of assessment chosen, arguing the income approach should have been used. The Board of Revision agreed with the landowners, and ordered the property to be assessed using the income approach.

The City then appealed to the Assessment Appeals Committee of the Saskatchewan Municipal Board (“Committee”), who found that the Board of Revision had made two mistakes: first, in finding that a change in the assessment service provider was a change in the “facts, conditions and circumstances affecting the property” as required under The Cities Act, and second, whether determining the assessor had erred by choosing one approach over the other. The Committee reinstated the assessor’s assessment.

The landowners appealed to the Court of Appeal. In determining whether or not it would grant leave to appeal, the Court of Appeal held that it was only permitted to hear appeals “on a question of law or on a question concerning the jurisdiction of the board” under The Municipal Board Act. The landowners identified six alleged errors on the part of the Committee, but the Court found that most of these were not questions of law or jurisdiction as required, and that only one question – whether the Board of Revision was bound by a previous decision in a previous assessment year – was actually a question of law. This, the Court found, was a question of sufficient merit to be considered by the Court, and is a question of recurring and broad significance in the realm of assessment, the answer to which would be “of ongoing and general assistance to the Committee in its work and, of course, to property owners and assessors as well.”

In summary, where a statute determines that appeals can only be heard on questions of law or jurisdiction, it is not enough for an appellant seeking leave to identify only “errors” by a previous decision maker. Further, the decision of the full panel on the one question given leave will be of interest to municipalities, municipal tax assessors, and property owners alike.

To access AMSC’s Casual Legal Helpline, AUMA members can call toll-free to 1-800-661-7673 or email casuallegal [at] amsc.ca (casuallegal[at]amsc[dot]ca) and reach the municipal legal experts at Reynolds Mirth Richards and Farmer LLP. For more information on the Casual Legal Service, please contact riskcontrol [at] auma.ca (riskcontrol[at]auma[dot]ca), or call 310-AUMA (2862) to speak to AUMA’s Risk Management staff. Any Regular or Associate member of the AUMA can access the Casual Legal Service.

DISCLAIMER: This article is meant to provide information only and is not intended to provide legal advice. You should seek the advice of legal counsel to address your specific set of circumstances. Although every effort has been made to provide current and accurate information, changes to the law may cause the information in this article to be outdated.