Assessment

The municipality plays a limited role in the assessed value of your property.  

SAMA (Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency) is the assessment provider for Saskatchewan municipalities.  SAMA's website www.sama.sk.ca has detailed property reports and a wealth of information to assist the public.

Every four (4) years, during "Revaluation" years you will receive an Assessment Notice in the Spring.  In other years, you will receive an Assessment Notice only if there has been a change in the value of the property (due to development, demolition or otherwise) or if there has been a change to the ownership. 

However, you may appeal the assessed value of your property every year but only during the period when the Assessment Roll is open, in April/May of each year.  The Assessment roll is open for appeals for 30 days (or 60 days during Revaluation years).  The fee to appeal is $50.00 per property, however this fee will be returned to you if your appeal is successful.  Appeals are considered by the an appointed Board of Revision.  

 Tip: Assessments cannot be appealed on the basis of "my taxes are too high". You can however appeal such matters as the property valuation details (e.g. percent of completion), property classification (e.g. Commercial vs Residential) or any tax exemption applied or not applied.

R.M. of Invergordon's Board of Revision is facilitated by Western Municipal Consulting Ltd out of Meota, SK, check out their website for more information www.westernmunicipal.ca

For a comprehensive review of Assessment Appeals click the link to read the Government of Saskatchewan's guide:  Citizen's Guide to Assessment Appeals

Coming Up

2025 Revaluation Year - this is the next scheduled Revaluation Year, where your current property is revalued based on actual market sales of comparable property up to a base date of January 1, 2023.  Revalued assessments will be shown on the 2025 Assessment Notices in May 2025.

2023-2024 Reinspection - SAMA began reinspection of all property in the RM in Summer 2023.  This is a physical review of each property for any new assessable property, removed (demo'd) buildings, change in use (e.g. commercial), etc.  The form you received in the mail in Spring 2023 was to gather information about any changes in the property.  The previous reinspection done in the RM of Invergordon was over 20 years ago!  New assessments will be shown on the 2024 Assessment Notices in April/May 2024.

2021 Revaluation - Handout from SAMA

Taxation

Taxes are levied by August 1st with taxes due by December 31st each year.  Discount is available for payment of taxes prior to December 1st.

Discount rate is as follows:

• 6% for payments in August
• 5% for payments in September
• 4% for payments in October
• 2% for payments in November

Discount is applicable to all municipal taxes, hail premiums, and C&D levies only.  Discount does not apply to Struthers Lake Regional Park levies or School taxes.

Tax Tools

Council has a few tools in their tax toolbelt which are utilized each and every year in setting the municipal tax rates. 

• Mill Rate:  this must be established by resolution of Council and is the rate of taxation for municipal taxes
• Mill Rate Factor (MRF):  this must be adopted by Bylaw, and is a factor applied to the Mill Rate for certain property classes (Agricultural, Residential, Commercial).  It allows Council to either increase or decrease the mill rate by applying a factor to the mill rate.
• Minimum Tax: this must be adopted by Bylaw, and is a minimum threshold of tax that must be levied for certain property classes and can be applied to either Land, Building or both.  It will show on the Tax Notice as either "Minimum Tax - Land"; "Minimum Tax - Improvement"; "Minimum Tax - Property" respectively.

Tax Authorities

• Municipal - general municipal, established by Council
  • Crystal Springs, Meskanaw and Tway tax rates are recommended by the applicable Organized Hamlet Board but are established by Council
  • Yellow Creek is established by Council as it is not an organized hamlet
• School - established by the Province, the RM remits collections each month to the ministry
• Conservation & Development Area - established by the applicable C&D Boards, the RM remits collections each month
• Hail - established by landowner in accordance with the Sask Municipal Hail Insurance policy taken on the land, the RM remits collections to SMHI each month

Tax Notice Abbreviations

2024 Rates

The below rates apply to all taxable property in the RM of INVERGORDON but outside the urban limits of the Organized Hamlets of Crystal Springs, Meskanaw and Tway as well as the Special Service Area of Yellow Creek wherein special rates are applied specific to each community, see below.

• Municipal Mill Rate 9.5 (no change from 2023)
• Effective Municipal Mill Rate-Agricultural 8.9775 (increase of 5.75%)
• Effective Municipal Mill Rate-Residential 8.9775 (increase of 5.0%)
• Effective Municipal Mill Rate-Commercial 9.9750 (increase of 5.0%)
• Minimum Tax-Land (Residential) $500.00 (increase of $50.00)
  
• Minimum Tax-Improvement (Residential) $300.00  (increase of $50.00) 
• Minimum Tax-Land (Ag) $10.00 
• Minimum Tax-Land (Commercial) $500.00  (increase of $50.00) 
• Minimum Tax-Improvement (Commercial) $300.00  (increase of $50.00) 

Crystal Springs, Meskanaw and Tway 

• Municipal Mill Rate 9.5 (no change from 2023)
• Mill Rate Factors do not apply
• Minimum Tax as per Bylaw 24-07

Yellow Creek

• Municipal Mill Rate 14.5 (no change from 2023)
• Mill Rate Factors do not apply
• Minimum Tax as per Bylaw 24-07

Struthers Lake Regional Park

Cabin owners are not subject to a municipal tax however the RM administers the SLRP levy as well as school taxes on these properties.  80% of the SLRP levy goes to the Park and 20% is retained by the RM for administration services.

• SLRP Mill Rate 4.80 (increase of 1.6% from 2023)

Referenced Bylaws

24-07 Minimum Tax Bylaw 

24-08 Mill Rate Factor Bylaw

How Taxes Are Calculated?

Taxes are calculated off of the assessed value and classification of your property.  So it's extremely important that you review your Assessment Notice when you receive one or review your detailed property reports on SAMA's website.  

Assessed Value x Property Class Taxable Assessment % = Taxable Assessment

Taxable Assessment x Mill Rates (or Effective Mill Rate if using a MRF) = Tax Payable

Tax Payable < Minimum Tax = Minimum Tax is the Tax Payable

Each taxing authority (municipal, school, hail (if applicable), C&D area (if applicable) is applied in the same manner at their applicable rate and the total of all levies is the total taxes owing for the year.

Example:

Lake property with a small building on it.  Assessed for both land and improvement (building) of 59,200.  It is Seasonal/Residential so it is taxed at 80% of its Assessed value, resulting in a Taxable Assessment of 47,360.

100-MUN (municipal tax calculation): 47,360 x (Mill Rate 9.5 x MRF 0.90 ÷ 1000) = $404.93.  But, because the Minimum Tax on both ("Property") is $700.00 ($450.00 Land + $250.00 Improvement), and the levied tax is below this threshold, then the Minimum Tax is levied and is shown on the Current Year Taxes line for municipal tax.

200-#119 (sask rivers school tax calculation:  47,360 x (Mill Rate 4.54 ÷ 1000) = $215.01 as shown on the Current Year Taxes line. 

Payment Options

Payments for taxes and other accounts (water/sewer, custom work, tax certificates, etc.) can be made as follows:

1.  Mailed Cheque, can be post-dated;
2.  Cheque or Cash in person or deposited in our front door mail slot;
3.  Debit in the office;
4.  E-Transfer to info@rm430.ca (no password is required, funds are automatically deposited for security);
5. NEW!! Pre-Authorized Debit PAD payments can be setup as a set amount each month on the 15th or 28th of each month, or as an estimate of current year's levy - you can even select to have it paid off by August 31 so you still get the full 6% discount!   Contact us for more information or fill out the attached form and return to us to get setup!      PAD Form
6. Online Bank Bill Payment to "R.M. of Invergordon" (type in "Invergordon" if you have trouble finding us as a Payee)
   • Credit Unions
   • Royal Bank (RBC)
   • Scotiabank
   • Sorry we do not participate with TD Canada Trust (due to technical issues), as well as CIBC or BMO due to high monthly fees.

Account Number: use your customer number at the top-right of your Tax Notice.

Note: you may need to add zero(s) in front of your customer number as most banks seem to require at least 4 digits for Account Numbers.

If you aren't sure what your customer number is, or are having troubles submitting a payment, give the office a call or send us an email.

If you are sending a payment to be applied to multiple accounts, please submit each payment individually to ensure they are applied correctly. 

Receipts are mailed to the address on file.

Tax Payment Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD)

Application Form

Tax Enforcement

As taxes are due by December 31 of each year, the RM commences its Tax Enforcement process, in accordance with The Tax Enforcement Act, in early February.

The guide below is a helpful tool in understanding the process of Tax Enforcement:

Government of Saskatchewan - Citizen's Guide to Tax Enforcement

NOTE: unpaid custom work or utility charges are transferred to taxes as of December 31 of each year and form part of the taxes (in accordance with The Municipalities Act), and thereby are applicable to Tax Enforcement.

General Process

1. Advertisement in local newspaper (The Journal)
   • Cost of ad is added to taxes
2. 60 days following Advertisement, a Tax Lien is registered onto title
   • Cost of lien is added to taxes
3. 6 months after Tax Lien, the Six Month Notice is issued by registered letter
   • Cost of registered letter is added to taxes
4. 6 months after Six Month Notice, one of two steps occur depending on the property's value
   • Council may pass a motion to take title to the property, in lieu of tax arrears;  or
   • RM applies to the Provincial Mediation Board to take over tax-enforcement (cost of this application is added to taxes).  PMB may give consent to the RM to take title to the property, in lieu of tax arrears (it is prudent you respond to ALL correspondence from the PMB to avoid consent being granted on account of no response).