Important information About Property Assessments and Taxes

Each January, BC Assessment Authority mails property assessment notices to the owners of 2+ million properties in the province. The notice contains your assessed value, which is the estimated market value of your property as of July 1st of the previous year, the property classification, and tax exemption status. 

In Ladysmith, residential property assessments rose by 16.66 per cent, while assessments for business/other classes went up by 9.61 per cent.  However, this does not mean that your property tax will automatically increase.  Here is how to tell if you property taxes will go up:  if your assessment has increased more than the average assessment increase in your property class, then it is likely you will see a higher tax increase. 

If you disagree with your property tax assessment, you must file an appeal with BC Assessment by January 31.  You can call 1-866-825-8322, or complete the form at the following link, which also gives full information about the appeal process:
https://info.bcassessment.ca/Services-products/appeals 

BC Assessment provides a lot of helpful information on their website, including comparisons with other properties in the community, and with other BC communities.  
We encourage you to find out more at the following link:
https://info.bcassessment.ca/services-and-products/Pages/Property-Assessments-and-Property-Taxes.aspx
Click here to read more about assessments and Ladysmith's 2018 budget.