HUMBOLDT — An online forum aims to allow commercial property owners to ask about why their property taxes have changed.
The Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce is hosting a virtual event on Thursday, July 22 at 9:30 a.m. with Humboldt city manager Joe Day and representatives from the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA).
This year’s reassessment of commercial property values was uneven, seeing some going up and some going down. That in turn has resulted in a big impact on civic and school tax bills. Due to the unevenness of the reassessments, the City of Humboldt found it hard to adjust tax rates to provide relief to all.
“As soon as the tax notices went out – literally that afternoon – I got the first call from people that were very upset with the way that things had gone as far as their tax bill was concerned,” said Brent Fitzpatrick, the chamber’s executive director. “Since that point, we've had a few other conversations with people.”
Fitzpatrick said the concern from businesspeople in Humboldt is not so much that taxes went up for some, but that some are dealing with large increases. He added that businesses are just coming out of 18 months of pandemic restrictions.
“It all circles back to the assessments,” he said. “My biggest question for SAMA is: why this year? Why is it coming as a lump this year and was there any thought given to extending this out or rolling this out slower?”
To sign up for the forum, contact the Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce at 306-682-4990 or admin@humboldtchamber.ca to receive a Zoom invite. There is a small charge for non-members.
The chamber asks that questions are provided in advance, so they are able to manage the forum’s limited time.
