The assessed value of residential properties in Nelson has gone up an average of nine per cent in 2016.
Last year’s increase was 5.7 per cent, and increases in the previous three years were less than two per cent.
“The majority of residential home owners within the region can expect an increase, compared to last year’s assessment,” said Ramaish Shah, deputy assessor for the Kootenay Columbia region.
“There are some markets that have moved more than others. Nelson, for instance, has seen strong demand for housing over the past year," he said.
“In Nelson there are very few listings out there now, compared to previous years. Last I looked, there were 16 houses listed in Nelson. That’s different from two or three years ago.”
But just because your assessed value may have gone up, that does not necessarily mean your property taxes will go up, according to the city’s Chief Financial Officer Colin McClure.
“The first thing we do is that we take the new assessed value for 2017, and we say, ‘What would the rate have been to collect the same amount of taxes we did in 2016?’”
And they adjust the tax rate accordingly. This means on average, with exceptions for some properties, taxes will stay the same.
Increases in taxes come when the city decides it needs more money than it did last year, to fund a new project or a new collective agreement, for example, or to cover inflation.
The average house property value in Nelson this year is $363,000, compared with $333,000 last year.
Two local communities show increases higher than Nelson’s: Kaslo increased by 11.1 per cent and Slocan by 10.5 per cent.
Other increases in neighbouring communities include Nakusp at 8.8 per cent, Trail at 2.5 per cent, Castlegar at 2.3 per cent, and Rossland at two per cent.
Some communities’ assessed values went down: Creston by 2.2 per cent, Silverton by 6.9 per cent, and New Denver by five per cent.
BC Assessment is a Crown corporation that classifies and values all property in BC. Each January the corporation sends a notice to property owners telling them the fair market value of their property as of July 1 of the previous year.
Municipal governments then use those numbers when applying their tax rates.
Shah says their published values reflect real estate market activity.
“If we see sales coming in that are above the value in previous year, we will increase the value, and decrease it if they are coming in lower. Our assessments are based on the sales we see in a given year.”
According to BC Assessment, Nelson is the highest valued community in its Kootenay Columbia region, which covers the southeast portion of the province from Fernie to Grand Forks and from Revelstoke to Cranbrook. However, the top 18 highest-valued properties in the region are all in and around Invermere, Fernie, and Golden, topped by a $5.5-million home in Invermere.
The most expensive West Kootenay property is the Blaylock Mansion on Highway 3A at Four Mile, assessed at $2.6 million.
The only other West Kootenay properties to crack the top 100 in the Kootenay-Boundary were three acreages in rural Creston, each valued at more than $1.8-million.
The total value of real estate on the 2017 roll for the province is $1.67 trillion, an increase of over 25 per cent from 2016. (See related article page 2)
Shah said people unsatisfied with their assessments should call the number listed on their notice, and if after a discussion with staff they are not satisfied, they can file a notice of complaint by the deadline of January 31.