A Prince George homeowner says BC Assessment is unfairly comparing his home to those in a nearby neighbourhood where residents enjoy the benefit of underground wires and storm sewers.
Charella Place resident Garnet Fraser contends the value of his house and those of his neighbours have been overestimated by more than $18,000. He also said the assessed value of his home went up by more than 10 per cent, roughly double the average for the city as a whole.
The jump is "likely due to the new nearby subdivision with underground wires and storm sewer," he said.
However, Fraser's bid to get the Prince George property assessment review panel to agree has fallen on deaf ears. Taking such items into account is outside the panel's purview, Fraser said he was told during a hearing in late February.
"What it comes down to is they don't have a mechanism for adjusting for the presence or absence of overhead lines and the storm sewers," he said.
"And the appeal process isn't effective in that regard because it takes about five minutes and they're not equipped to give advice about policy.
"I complained that they have no way of adjusting for overhead powerlines and their response basically was 'we have no way of adjusting for overhead powerlines.'"
Fraser now plans to take the issue to the provincial property assessment appeal board, the second level of the appeal process.
In the course of researching the issue, Fraser found the cost of installing underground wires to his home would be about $15,000 and the bill for connecting a drain tile to an existing sewer system would run in the range of $13,000 to $14,000.
In addition to Charella Place, he said Charella Drive, Davis Road and Bona Dea Drive all lack underground lines and storm sewers but are surrounded by new neighbourhoods that have them and to which their homes are compared for assessment purposes.
Assessed value is used to distribute the property tax levies set by the city, regional district and, through the school tax, the provincial government.
Fraser said the discrepancy amounts to only a $50 difference on his bill but it affects a lot of people.
Fraser said he wanted to file an appeal on behalf of about 50 homeowners but was rebuffed and told appeals will only be considered on a household-by-household basis.
The deadline for appeals to the property assessment appeal board is April 30.
