A Yorkton couple has been in a fight with the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) and went before city council to get support and inform them of their frustrations.
Norman and Debbie Koptie's home on Riverside Drive was assessed by SAMA to have a value greater than what the actual value was, due to an error in the square footage listed. The house, which is 1,586 square feet, was assessed to have a size of 1,971 square feet. In dollar terms, this means the Kopties were charged approximately $300 annually in taxes above what was appropriate for the home.
Debbie Koptie says that SAMA has been difficult to deal with ever since they caught the error in the assessment, making it hard for them to get information on how the mistake got through.
"Once I caught them, and they realized I caught them with the mistake, there was no information forthcoming," Koptie says.
While she says the onus is on SAMA to ensure that the assessments for homes are accurate and up to date, and that this is part of their mission statement, from their experience it is clear that home owners need to keep a close eye on their assessments to find errors like the one on their home. She people need to keep an eye on specific errors in an assessment, things like the wrong square footage in their case, but also if a basement is assumed to be finished.
"What I want to draw people's attention to is that they have to take the time to check those assessments, because SAMA is not doing their due diligence."
The Kopties have spoken with different levels of the government in order to get the issue resolved and hold SAMA accountable for their error. They will be making a report to SAMA's head office now that they have the response from city council.
The process is ongoing, but they were happy to gain the support of city council, which agreed to work with them to see they get their money back, such as through an abatement.
