RELATIONSHIP OF PROPERTY TAXES TO PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS AND SERVICE COSTS
There continues to be some misunderstanding over the relationship of property taxes to property assessments and service costs. When assessments change and/or service costs change, taxes do not necessarily change as well. For example, as more development (such as subdivisions or the building of new homes) takes place in a service area, the total assessment value increases. In this case the service costs could raise without affecting taxes for an existing home. Hopefully, the following examples help explain these relationships.
| Service can refer to any of the services or taxes listed on your tax notice eg: fire, school, hospitals | Example of a service cost and taxes for a year | Every bodies properties assessment UP 25%, service requisition no change | Only individual property assessment UP 25%, service requisition no change | Every bodies properties assessment no change, service requisition UP 25% |
| Specific Service requisition (cost): | $ 100,000 | $ 100,000 | $ 100,000 | $ 125,000 |
| Tax Collection fee(5.5%):* | $ 5,500 | $ 5,500 | $ 5,500 | $ 6,875.00 |
| Total Tax Requisition for specific Service: | $ 105,500 | $ 105,500 | $ 105,500 | $ 131,875 |
| Total Assessed Value: | $ 103,000,000 | $ 128,750,000 | $ 103,050,000 | $ 103,000,000 |
| Tax Rate per $1,000: | $ 1.0243 | $ 0.8194 | $ 1.0238 | $ 1.2803 |
| Individual Property Assess Value: | $ 200,000 | $ 250,000 | $ 250,000 | $ 200,000 |
| Individual taxes: | $ 204.85 | $ 204.85 | $ 256.07 | $ 256.07 |
| * BC Assessment Authority charge | big decrease in tax rate to offset increased assessment no change in taxes for anybody | individual taxes up 25% very minor change in tax rate, less than 1/10 of a cent | everyones taxes up 25% big change in tax rate to collect 25% more money from all |
| Tax Rate Calculation Per $1000 |
| Tax Rate = Total Tax Requisition / (Total Assess / 1,000) |
| eg: $1.25 = $100,000 / ($80,000,000 / 1,000) |
| Individual Property Tax Calculation |
| Property Tax = Individual Property Assess / 1000 * Tax rate |
| eg: $250.00 = $200,000 / 1000 * $1.25 |