A new report says Estevan is among the fairest cities in Saskatchewan with respect to property taxes.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business released its annual tax fairness report last week. The document is a comparison of the property tax gaps between residential and commercial property owners in the province.
After being tabbed as one of the most unfair jurisdictions only a few years ago, Estevan was seventh among the 15 cities in the province in 2012.
The report says that in 2012 commercial property owners in Estevan paid $2.24 for every dollar paid in municipal property taxes, which was unchanged from 2011.
The provincial average is $2.56, which was up from $2.51 in 2011.
"Unfortunately, for small business owners the majority of Saskatchewan municipalities saw their municipal tax gaps either worsen or stay the same in 2012," said Marilyn Braun-Pollon, CFIB's vice-president, prairie and agri-business. "Given that 29 municipalities have only modestly improved their municipal tax gap in 2012, it is troubling that small business owners continue to get the short end of the property tax stick.
"If you factor in the provincial education property taxes, commercial property owners in Saskatchewan cities are paying on average 2.24 times the property taxes of residential property owners, down from 2.26 in 2011. What makes these unfair tax rates worse is that in addition to paying more, business owners typically receive fewer services, as they pay for things like garbage disposal on their own.
"This report should be required reading for municipal leaders as they determine their 2014 operating budgets in the coming months. With cities receiving a 162 per cent increase in municipal revenue sharing since 2007, property tax hikes should be unnecessary."
Province-wide, Yorkton was deemed the most unfair city by the CFIB with a ratio of $3.72. Weyburn was second with a ratio of $3.47 while North Battleford was third at $3.30.
Martensville had the best ratio in the province at $1.56 while Saskatoon was the second fairest city at $1.79.
In terms of total taxes, Estevan commercial property owners paid the fourth-lowest taxes overall while residential taxpayers paid the third-lowest. That is likely to change when the 2013 numbers are tabulated after the two-mill increase approved by council earlier this year. This year is also a reassessment year and it has been noted a number of Estevan property owners saw a significant increase in their assessed value.
Along with shining a spotlight on tax fairness in Saskatchewan, the report contained a handful of recommendations, that included developing a plan to reduce the ratio. Other recommendations include:
Limit year-over-year spending growth to a maximum of inflation plus population growth and review current programs and services with a view to identifying areas that can be eliminated, streamlined, contracted out to the private sector or sold.
Introduce a plan to reduce the size and cost of the municipal civil service (primarily through attrition) and pension reform.
Work toward additional revenue sharing, rather than new taxing authority or provincial tax increases to finance municipal infrastructure.
Consider the introduction of a base tax for all homeowners.
