The City of Saskatoon says it issued over 100,000 notices as the 2021 assessment roll is now available to property owners.
According to the city’s report released on Wednesday, the value of the average business property increased by eight per cent but the value of residential properties dropped by seven per cent.
The value of the average single-family home decreased by six per cent and condominiums decreased by 12 per cent.
The report says the commercial side changed even more with the value of office and retail space rising by 16 and 24 per cent, respectively, while industrial property dropped by 10 and hotel space by 23 per cent.
Provincial legislation requires the city to update its assessment every four years to ensure the burden of property taxes is fairly shared among residents.
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Reassessment is revenue neutral. This means the city does not collect any more, or less, tax revenue due to changes in property values.
The officials also said the taxes for individual properties will not change at the same rate as the average — your home’s value won’t drop by six per cent just because the average did.
These new figures were calculated as of Jan. 1, 2019.
“It’s important to note that any market influence COVID-19 may or may not have had on a property’s assessed value will not be reflected in the 2021 property reassessment figures as the pandemic occurred after the base date,” city assessor Bryce Trew said in a press release.
The city said the determinations were largely based on housing prices and couldn’t point to specific causes for the shifts.
Trew said, for 2021, the city has created six new videos and enhanced our online tools to assist property owners with additional information to help explain the assessment process.
Property owners have a 60-day customer review period to formally appeal their assessment, which goes until March 29, 2021.
CORRECTION: This story previously stated that as home values decrease, the city must take in more tax to ensure it gets the same amount of money. In fact, reassessment is revenue neutral.