Midtown Plaza, facing $1.1M city tax bill hike, settles for slight trim

The owners of Saskatoon's downtown mall have settled for a slightly reduced hike in the taxes they have to pay to the city.

The assessed value of the Midtown Plaza property, including the Tower at Midtown, shot up to $309 million in the city's latest assessmenta 49 per cent increase since the property was last assessed in 2013.

That means the owners of the mall a group lead by Toronto-based KingSett Capital would have to pay an extra $1.1 million in municipal taxes compared to four years ago.

But the owners appealed that assessment and, after talks with the city, have settled for a new, slightly lower tax bill, says Terry Napper, the Calgary-based general manager of the mall.

"The assessed value is based on rents and a number that the city puts towards those rents called the capitalization rate. And we, through our accounting team, reviewed the numbers and basically went back to the city and suggested that some of the numbers should be different," said Napper.

• Midtown Plaza, hotels, SaskTel office among properties disputing value assessments

"The city reviewed it and adjusted without going to any court proceeding or hearing. They adjusted it to the point whereto be honest, [we were] satisfied with the result."

Revised figures unknown

Napper declined to disclosethe revised valuation and tax bill figures. CBC News has requested those figures from the City of Saskatoon.

Napper said the original hike did not come as a shock, however.

"The last assessed value was done four years ago and the economy in Saskatoon up until probably the last year has been increasing dramatically," he said. "And as the economy increases, rents grow."

To make up for the increased tax bill, Napper said the mall owners will increase the rentcharged to individual stores at the mall, most of which are owned by national chains.

Two large hotels in downtown Saskatoon the Radisson and the Delta Bessborough had also appealed their value assessments.

The city said those appeals have also been resolved.