Start Date
11-12-2014 1:00 PM
End Date
11-12-2014 2:15 PM
Description
Initially, when any disaster strikes there is the initial communal response to assist those whose lives have been disrupted. For some wealthy individuals resident in Calgary, the flood became an excuse to renovate and redecorate with only minor inconvenience or disruption, at least in comparison to the resources available to them. To the middle class community of High River, it was a true disaster with families losing their homes and contents. Whether those individuals will receive compensation for their losses remains to be seen - not unlike other disaster areas in North America such as New Orleans or the New York and New Jersey shores. Those become social and political issues. For assessors, the challenge is to attempt to determine market value of what is left standing after the disaster - in the context that taxing people who have lost most, if not all, of their most significant investment seems like adding insult to injury. But, whether to tax or not is a political issue. To the extent that property tax is to continue, the function of assessment is to provide a fair and equitable common base for that taxation.
Recommended Citation
Trylinski, Susan Esq.; Ham, K. Hugh Esq.; and Van Staden, Alida Christine CAE, "Alberta Flood of 2013: Land use, assessment and legal solutions" (2014). IAAO Annual Legal Seminar. 5.
https://researchexchange.iaao.org/legal/legal14/sessions/5
Alberta Flood of 2013: Land use, assessment and legal solutions
Initially, when any disaster strikes there is the initial communal response to assist those whose lives have been disrupted. For some wealthy individuals resident in Calgary, the flood became an excuse to renovate and redecorate with only minor inconvenience or disruption, at least in comparison to the resources available to them. To the middle class community of High River, it was a true disaster with families losing their homes and contents. Whether those individuals will receive compensation for their losses remains to be seen - not unlike other disaster areas in North America such as New Orleans or the New York and New Jersey shores. Those become social and political issues. For assessors, the challenge is to attempt to determine market value of what is left standing after the disaster - in the context that taxing people who have lost most, if not all, of their most significant investment seems like adding insult to injury. But, whether to tax or not is a political issue. To the extent that property tax is to continue, the function of assessment is to provide a fair and equitable common base for that taxation.