Saskatoon has reassessed more than 100K properties. What does it mean for your taxes?

If you live in Saskatoon, you may have receiveda notice that your property is being reassessed.

On Wednesday, the city released its findings on the assessed property values of more than 100,000 properties in Saskatoon. Here's what the city found:

• Single-family residential properties decreased 6% (median assessment is $344,000)
• Residential condos decreased 12% (median assessment is $209,900)
• Retail spaces increased 24% (median assessment is $1,503,500)
• Office propertiesincreased 16% (median assessment is $1,377,750)

So, what does this mean for your taxes?

First, if your assessed property value went down, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll pay less in property taxes. The city still has to collect the same amount of taxes to fund city services. It's also not a true indicator of exactly how much you could sell your property for.

A quick way to check if you'll pay more, less, or the same in taxes can be done on the city's website, or by taking a look at some averages. On average, residential properties had a 7% decrease. If your personal property decreased in value by 10%, you might pay less property tax. If the value decreased by 2%, you might pay more. If it decreased 7%, you might pay the same amount.

This information and an accompanying report will be used to determine the actual property tax rate in April during city budget talks.

"The assessed value of your property is calculated for taxation purposes only it's an estimate based on sold properties in your market area. The provincial law works with a legislated base date and for 2021, that date is January 1, 2019," Bryce Trew, City Assessor, said in a news release.

"It's important to note that any market influence COVID-19 may or may not have had on a property's assessed value will not be reflected in the 2021 property reassessment figures as the pandemic occurred after the base date."

If you disagree with your property's assessment, you have 60 days to appeal. You can go to the city's website to start that process.