Almost $500,000 in property taxes was not paid in 2017 by the holders of 110 different accounts. The city can't publicly name and shame them and it can take five years to recoup the money.

By Glenn Hicks

property taxes

Frustration with P.A.’s unpaid property taxes

May 22, 2019 | 8:28 AM

There’s continued frustration among Prince Albert city councillors about unpaid property taxes and the fact there’s little that can be done to compel property owners to pay that arrears quickly.

In 2017 alone almost $500,000 went unpaid by the owners of 110 properties, a situation councillors have labelled as unfair to those who do pay their taxes as well as being an added financial burden on the city. The law doesn’t allow for the public naming and shaming of those who are in arrears. Currently the total amount of property tax accounts with outstanding balances is over $3.3 million.

To make matters worse, it can take the city up to five years to go through a process of getting that money back by ultimately acquiring the title to those properties. The property can then be sold to defray the outstanding tax amount.

A report from the city’s finance department prepared for Tuesday evening’s council meeting shows $491,946 was not paid in 2017. Much of that amount is owed by 10 of the 110 account holders, responsible for about 30 parcels of land.

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Director of Finance for the city, Cheryl Tkachuk explained the tax enforcement process starts with a registered letter to the owners informing them that a lien is being registered against their property.

“Usually it takes a couple of years for the property tax accounts to get to the stage where they go to the Saskatchewan Board [of Mediation] where arrangements are made for that owner to pay that tax, which can take [another] three-year period,” Tkachuk said.

As for publicizing the names of those who do not pay their taxes, she said current privacy legislation did not allow the city to release that information.

However, Mayor Greg Dionne suggested curious citizens “could be encouraged to go to the land titles office, pay a small fee [$25] and make a search on the title” to determine the owners. Ward 8 Coun. Ted Zurakowski suggested the media could also help.

“When people don’t pay their taxes it puts a burden on all others,” Ward 5 Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick said. “It means we have to have a [tax] increase to cover the services the city provides. That’s where we get our money from. It makes it very difficult for us at budget time and for our residents.”

As part of the process to go after the 2017 unpaid taxes, council voted to proceed with what’s known as First Application of Title.

Ward 4 Coun. Don Cody said the process of tax enforcement needs to be streamlined as many other city councils were also frustrated by the process. He said the province should be lobbied to make changes.

“Five years without collecting taxes while providing services to those people is really quite a hardship on the rest of the folks who do pay their taxes regularly,” he said. “We need a conversation among ourselves and then with SUMA (Saskatchewn Urban of Municipalities Association) to put a resolution together. It’s just too long a process.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow