2020 Property Tax Assessment

[Regorium]

It's that time of year! https://assessmentsearch.calgary.ca/PropertySearch.aspx

Looks like pretty big decreases across the board from initially talking to a few people.

My duplex in Renfrew is down 8% from last year's assessed value, but they didn't take into account the fact that I won my appeal which knocked off another 12%. So stupid that I have to appeal every single year.

Probably a huge increase in mill rate coming to offset the general fall in assessment value.

How are everyone's assessments looking?

CBC Article: Average Calgary home plunged $20,000 in value last year, as property assessments drop $5 billion overall

[Maccalus]

Looks like mine went down approx. 8% from last year. It will still be a large tax bill (Inglewood).

[The Yen Man]

So according to that article, total property value in Calgary dropped $5B to $301B. Is it too simplistic to say that means total rate dropped 5 / 306 = 1.63%? So if I take 1.016 of last year's mill rate times ~7.5% (expected tax increase) = this year's estimated mill rate? If so, then my property tax is about even since my property dropped 6%.

Guess it's still community dependent, but that's just me trying to roughly estimate what I should be expecting.

Edit: Wait, nevermind. Just re-read the article. The $301B is expected owed property tax, not the value of total property values.

[calgarygeologist]

Mine is down about 3%.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

So according to that article, total property value in Calgary dropped $5B to $301B. Is it too simplistic to say that means total rate dropped 5 / 306 = 1.63%? So if I take 1.016 of last year's mill rate times ~7.5% (expected tax increase) = this year's estimated mill rate? If so, then my property tax is about even since my property dropped 6%.

Guess it's still community dependent, but that's just me trying to roughly estimate what I should be expecting.

Edit: Wait, nevermind. Just re-read the article. The $301B is expected owed property tax, not the value of total property values.

The city has a calculator where you punch in your assessed value and it gives you your taxes.

https://www.calgary.ca/PDA/Assessmen...alculator.aspx

[Ahuch]

Mine is also down about 3%, so assuming taxes will be up with the shift from businesses...

[Torture]

Just bought a house (Moved in December 27th!) and it's assessed $60k over what we paid. I understand that the assessed value is supposed to the market price at July so my purchase price in December may not be completely accurate, but it also sat on the market in July (and for 5 months afterwards until they dropped the price), unsold, at the price the city's assessed it at...

Went to the calculator and it doesn't make a huge difference to property taxes (maybe $300-$400), but does anybody have experience fighting to get the assessment lowered? How much of an uphill battle would it be?

[Fuzz]

The city doesn't assess it at the listed price, they use previously sold places in your area, and do adjustments based on that. I don't think you'd have much of a leg to stand on arguing that, they'll just tell you you got a good deal when you bought it. You would have to have more evidence than that that it was over-assessed in July. But who knows, it's all kind of black boxy.

[Voodooman]

Mine fell about 9%, in Inglewood as well. I think the current assessed value is accurate. Last year, it was the highest assessment in the 10 years we’ve owned the place, and I wanted to burn down City Hall unless Nenshi wrote me a cheque for that number.

Of course, as is generally the case, I complained, but did nothing about it, which the city depends on. Kudos to those of you who actually held them accountable by disputing the assessments.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Torture

Just bought a house (Moved in December 27th!) and it's assessed $60k over what we paid. I understand that the assessed value is supposed to the market price at July so my purchase price in December may not be completely accurate, but it also sat on the market in July (and for 5 months afterwards until they dropped the price), unsold, at the price the city's assessed it at...

Went to the calculator and it doesn't make a huge difference to property taxes (maybe $300-$400), but does anybody have experience fighting to get the assessment lowered? How much of an uphill battle would it be?

The city uses transactions up to July 1, 2019 to make their decision. Just saying that this is what you paid is likely not good enough this year (but would make more sense next year).

However you can also pull all the sales data and see how the city determined your assessment. Depending on how far off the city is with regards to how they leveraged previous sales, you might still have a case.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Torture

How much of an uphill battle would it be?

The first steps are simple, free and relatively informal. First go on the assessment site, compare your value with your neighbours and find a couple comparable houses in your community. If they are significantly cheaper, there's really no harm to call the city.

As the assessment is based on a number of factors outside of the physical building and lot, including location to amenities/schools/green spaces/etc. or views from property etc. it's easiest if you can find similar homes closest to you. You should be looking at ones with similar square footage above and below grade but keep in mind other factors like garage vs no-garage, renovation level and age of house.

Assuming you can find ones assessed as significantly cheaper than your assessment, use them as support when you contact the city. This is an encouraged practice, so you can be upfront that you found some assessed as cheaper and are inquiring as to why your assessment was more. They should be able to provide some reasoning but they will now have to keep in mind that anything that applies to your home should also apply to the others if they are similar enough. The phonecall is not quite a "negotiation", but it is suppose to be the "informal" way to be reassessed. You can also request an assessor contact you in-person for free if you want to go that route.

Only if you're unhappy with the outcome of the phonecall would you need to really start the formal, uphill battle, which is filing a formal complaint with the Assessment Review Board, which requires a filing fee, a hearing date, etc. which probably wouldn't be worth it to you.

[TorqueDog]

Down roughly 3.9% in assessed value (-$27,xxx), taxes went up 3.9%.

[GordonBlue]

looked at the value map for my home.
it shows my house valued at $25,000 more than the others on my block, including my neighbour who has a bigger house and larger lot.
nothing about mine is grander than the others, and no renovations of note.

going to complain for sure.

[MrCallahan]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

looked at the value map for my home.
it shows my house valued at $25,000 more than the others on my block, including my neighbour who has a bigger house and larger lot.
nothing about mine is grander than the others, and no renovations of note.

going to complain for sure.

Similar thing for me. While my assessment dropped 6-7% compared to last year, when I'm looking at the neighbours assessed values, they are showing up $20k less. And they same size lot, but newer renovations, full garage (where I have none). Have never tried to appeal an assessment before, I might have to give it a shot this time around.

[Weitz]

When do you get your package in the mail? I looked at my assessed value and it seems to be very similar to last year but I can't really remember. Can't check previous years without some sort of code you get in the mail?

[Fuzz]

LOL. Mail.


Login to the city portal and check it there. You can see last years value.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

LOL. Mail.


Login to the city portal and check it there. You can see last years value.

Need an access code to add your property though? It shows it on like a piece of paper.

"Enter your roll number and access code (located at the top of your assessment
notice) in the appropriate field and click Submit."

[Fuzz]

Ya, I forgot that part, I set mine up years ago. If you have an old one it might work.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ya, I forgot that part, I set mine up years ago. If you have an old one it might work.

I may have found a solution!

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by GGG

The city has a calculator where you punch in your assessed value and it gives you your taxes.

https://www.calgary.ca/PDA/Assessmen...alculator.aspx

Thanks! Looks like my property tax went up 9.5%. Boo. I guess still lowest property tax of any major city in the country, but it's never fun to get a 9.5% increase. I think my property tax has gone up about 75% overall since 10 years ago. I wish wage inflation did too lol.