The primary responsibility of the Assessment Office is to determine the market value of every property in the M.D. of Willow Creek so that all taxpayers contribute their fair share to pay for the services they enjoy.

The Assessment Office does not set tax rates nor do they determine how much must be collected in yearly taxes.

The most important product of the Assessment Office is the Assessment roll which is a listing of all properties located within the M.D. of Willow Creek and their assessed values.

The purpose of an assessment system is the equitable distribution of taxation for the purpose of paying for public services.

The M.D. Of Willow Creek uses the assessment roll to determine the tax rates that have to be set to raise the revenues required by themselves and various taxing authorities. The M.D. of Willow Creek collects taxes for the Province of Alberta (Alberta Education & Seniors’ Foundation).

The Alberta Government has mandated that property assessments for 1998 and future taxation years with the Province:

• Are reflective of the market value of property as of July 1 of the previous year, and
• Must reflect the characteristics and physical condition of the property on December 31 of the year prior to the year in which a tax is imposed, and
• That the assessments must be kept current by being updated on an annual basis.

Market value is the most probable price, which would be paid for a property in a competitive and open market. It assumes the buyer and seller are acting prudently and knowledgeably, allowing sufficient time for the sale and assumes that undue pressures do not affect the transaction.

Once the assessment has been determined, the Assessor’s Office must determine which tax classification is appropriate for your property. There are several

Property tax classifications used in the M.D. of Willow Creek; Single Family Residential, Non-Residential, and Farmland. Different tax rates are set for these different property tax classifications. Farmland is assessed at its’ productivity rating rather than market value.

The Assessor’s Office doesn’t create the value of your property, it is created by the real estate marketplace.

The Assessor’s Office just measures it.

The Assessor’s Office is

kept informed by the Provincial Land Titles Office of all real estate sales within the M.D.

The Appraisers of the Assessor’s Office apply the accepted mass appraisal practices using information from all property sales within the M.D. to estimate the market value of your property. They take into account all the market conditions that may affect your property’s value such as: Location, size, shape, replacement cost, age and condition of your buildings.

The real estate market has many forces affecting the value of property. These include supply and demand, motivation of buyers and sellers, renovations, remodeling, normal wear and tear and so on.

When similar properties are sold during the same time frame, a range of sale prices results. Assessed values reflect the sales in the middle of this range of prices. This is why there are assessments that are higher or lower than the selling price.

Prior to filing a written complaint, you are encouraged to contact the M.D. of Willow Creek Assessor’s Office

(Benchmark Assessment Consultants Inc.). The Assessor will be pleased to review the assessment with you. If the Assessor determines that that an error has been made, your assessment will be revised.

If, after talking with the Assessor’s Office you concerns are not satisfied, you may file a formal complaint with the Assessment Review Board. A written complaint explaining why you feel your assessment is incorrect, along with the appropriate filing fee, must be sent to the clerk of the Assessment Review Board for the M.D. of Willow Creek. The information required to file a complaint along with a fee schedule, is stated on an insert sent with your assessment and tax notice.

A tax rate of taxation applied against the value of property within a municipality to collect the revenue required by the various taxation authorities. Normally the tax rate is expressed in mills (dollars in tax paid per thousand dollars of property value) or sometimes as a percentage of the property’s value (i.e. a tax rate of 1.5% on a home valued at $100,000 would require the payment of $1,500 in annual property taxes.)