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Taxation Vol 19, No 11 May 26, 2014 Efocus Municipal Assessment Cases, Commentary, News, Trends, & TAXATION Ideas, Warnings & Best Practices

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Taxation Vol 19, No 11 May 26, 2014 Efocus Municipal Assessment Cases, Commentary, News, Trends, & TAXATION Ideas, Warnings & Best Practices eFocus Municipal Assessment & Taxation Vol 19, No 11 May 26, 2014 eFocus Municipal Assessment cases, commentary, news, trends, & TAXATION ideas, warnings & best practices Inside this issue Speaking of plebiscites... n accordance with Section 8(1)(b) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, Coast to Coast to Coast 2 Kingston passed Bylaw 2014-73, regarding the placement of the following That’s an idea! 3 I question on the 2014 Municipal Election Ballot: Are you in favour of a casino Verbatim: What is a Photocopier? being located in the City of Kingston? The results will be binding if 50% of electors Legal Briefs 4 vote on the question and more than 50% of those votes are in favour of the result. Quirky but True... If a binding YES vote, council would be required to advise Ontario Lottery and Payment in Lieu of Taxes 5 Resources: New & Noted Gaming Corporation it consulted with the public and the public were in favour of Disaster Mode a casino in Kingston. If the question is rejected, council would be required to advise Foreign Affairs 6 that the public were not in favour and provide the OLG with a resolution. Any Transitions person or entity may appeal the bylaw to Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer on the Calendar grounds the question does not comply with criteria of the wording being clear, work word concise and neutral and being the question must be answered by the only permitted choices "YES" or "No" The stock will bounce back, phrase. Maybe it will be worth and casinos... something by the time your Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack tax incentives used to attract the grandkids inherit it. casino expired, the casino filing an appeal arguing Delaware County’s $218 million assessment is “excessive, improper, unjust and contrary to law.” The From The Devil’s Dictionary of casino earlier appealed that assessment to the county’s Board of Assessment un- Business Jargon by David Olive successfully. Harrah’s opened on the waterfront in January 2007 and cost $430 Planning a Plebiscite: million, taxes waived through 2013. Harrah’s is not appealing the city of Chester Asking your Community or school district values of $52.5 million, expected to result in approximately $1.7 Thursday, June 5, 2014 at million for the city and $3 million for the school district. 1pmET, free webinar/phone in for subscribers: see pg6 Olympic venues now exempt from property tax ochi’s Olympic sports venues and hotels are now exempt from property tax by the regional Krasnodar gov- ernment www.krasnodar.ru/en/content/563/show/14773 until January 1, 2015, a move analysts said reflects S the “hopelessness” of the financial position after the Games. This includes sporting venues, Olympic village, the media centre and Russian International Olympic University, as well as transportation and engineering infra- structure and hotels built as part of the construction. According to a Finance Ministry spokesperson, lifting the 2.2% tax on the net value of a company’s assets means the region will not receive some 4 billion rubles (US $114 million). The government sunk more than $50 billion into preparations for the Sochi Games and encouraged billionaires to invest heavily in infrastructure. Construction was plagued by cost overruns with private investors granted huge loans by a state-owned bank and the resort now struggling to attract tourists. www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/sochi-lawmakers-attempt-to-save-failing-olympic-venues-with-tax- break/499983.html In February, Fitch Ratings noted the region’s large increase in debt “is manageable because the economy is well diversified and there is a steady flow of funding from the federal government.” Indebtedness “rose rapidly to 47% of the region’s current revenue in 2013,” from 3% in 2009 largely related to building new infrastructure in and around Sochi. www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/fitchwire/fitchwirearticle/Russian-Winter-Olympics?pr_id=819591 eFocus Municipal Assessment Manitoba extends seniors’ rebate & TAXATION Manitoba’s seniors who are 65 by the end of 2014 and live in their own home can ap- Subscription info/corrections: ply for a tax rebate of up to $235 in 2014 in the Seniors’ School Tax Rebate. Another Jon Denman, Subscriber Services [email protected] 7,200 senior homeowners will pay no education property tax in addition to nearly 902-820-3300 tel 10,000 who already had school taxes eliminated through the Education Property Tax 902-820-3301 fax Credit and Education Property Tax Credit top up. The rebate will fully eliminate school 866-554-6555 tollfree taxes from seniors' property bills by 2016. An estimated 80,000 homes are owned by seniors in Manitoba. www.manitoba.ca/seniorsrebate Communications [email protected] www.COMvivio.com eFocus Municipal Assessment & Taxation Vol 19, No 11 May 26, 2014 Coast to Coast to Coast property tax exemption is being applied for and the Canada income of all members of the same family in the same household, excluding an allowance paid pursuant to British Columbia the War Veterans Allowance Act or pension paid pursu- Victoria Council gave first reading of the tax bylaw and ant to the Pension Act, must be equal to or less than, amended the preliminary 2014-2018 Financial Plan, $24,515 for the immediately preceding calendar year. increasing investment in cycling infrastructure by www.truro.ca/component/option,com_docman/ $50,000 per year for the next five years, and investing Itemid,676/gid,2167/task,doc_view an additional $121,639 in cycling and pedestrian im- provements in 2014. Council gave preliminary approval Prince Edward Island to an overall tax increase of 2.51% for an increase of Finance Minister Wes Sheridan said the province’s 2% 2.75% for residential (up $60 for average residential tax increase reflects the CPI and that years ago the property) and 2.3% increase for business (up $150 for government decided to put a three-year freeze in place typical business property.) This is the lowest tax in- to “make sure that we've got to the very science of crease in 14 years. The operating budget is $209.8 mil- how we could adjust the property tax each and every lion, $2.81 million over 2013. www.victoria .ca/EN/ year.” People can now pay property tax bills online in meta/news/news-archives/2014-archive/feedback-invited- three supplements until the end of November, soon a on-2014-2018-draft-financial-plan.html possibility that tax bills will be online, saving thousands of dollars in postage. Alberta Calgary’s factor to calculate the rebate depends on United States property’s assessment class: residential, non residen- Altoona, Iowa approved a Quotable Quote tial, or farmland, the amount calculated by multiplying second massive building for “There is only one thing the property’s assessed value by the relevant rebate Facebook, part of a $1 bil- about which I am certain, factor. For properties having more than one assess- lion data centre, offering and that is that there is ment class, multiply the assessment value per class by 20 years of no property tax the relevant rebate factor. www.calgary.ca/CA/fs/Pages/ and $18 million in tax very little about which Property-Tax/Property-Tax-Rebate.aspx credits. Some, ironically one can be certain.” Lacombe’s increase in assessment from new growth posting on Facebook, are W. Somerset Maugham generated additional tax revenue, so the municipal slamming the deal. “I think property tax rate increase has been reduced from if we want progress, and 2.85% to 2.3% this year. www.lacombe.ca/home/ you don’t want it to go, in this case, to Nebraska, if showdocument?id=8 you’re gonna play you’re gonna pay,” said Mayor Skip Manitoba Conkling. www. facebook.com/careers/locations/altoona Winnipeg’s reassessment punishes homeowners in Opponents say new statistics show Seneca Nation some of the poorest neighbourhoods where valuation casinos haven’t held down property taxes or crime in rose by 53% since 2009, said Councillor Ross Eadie, New York. Former Rochester Mayor Bill Johnson’s con- handing out colour coded maps with rates in the city. sulting firm, in conducting research for No More Casi- www.winnipegsun.com/2014/05/02/city-taxes-unfairly- nos Coalition said the only year tax rates went down in punish-inner-city-eadie host communities was the first year of operations, alt- hough communities were promised held or lower rates. Ontario More than $1.3 billion in property in Des Moines, Io- With higher than expected assessment growth, King- wa is off tax rolls: just some 60% of properties gener- ston’s staff recommended the 2014 municipal property ate taxes. An analysis found the amount of tax exempt tax rate increase be lowered from 2.5% at budget time property ballooned 38% from 10 years ago, prompting to 2.13% . www.cityofkingston.ca/city-hall/news-public- calls to charge for certain services. Rhode Island and notices/-/asset_publisher/VePzQlLkmo0v/content/2014- Connecticut make state payments to cities with high budget-related-property-tax-increase-lower-than-expected concentrations of nonprofits. Minneapolis in Minneso- Nova Scotia ta takes in more than $1 million annually in a service Truro approved a property tax exemption for residen- fee for street maintenance and streetlights based on tial property in the amount of the lesser of, $197 or square footage of tax exempt property. www. property taxes owing for 2014-15, provided the as- desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/des-moines/ sessed owner is the primary resident for which the 2014/05/04/untaxed-properties-increase/8684593 2 [email protected] www.COMvivio.com eFocus Municipal Assessment & Taxation Vol 19, No 11 May 26, 2014 That’s Hello eBilling, goodbye paper bills an Property owners can now receive their City of Victoria Property Tax Notice electronically.
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