Property Taxes

The tax year begins January 1 and ends December 31 of the current year.  Tax Notices are generally sent mid May to mid June.
Taxes are due December 31st.
A tax discount of 10% applies to the municipal portion if paid by July 31st. 

Payment must be received in the Village Office on or before the deadlines. If paying online allow 3-5 business days for the Village to receive the payment. A penalty of 2% will be added on January 1st to taxes remaining unpaid and every month thereafter. Tax arrears will continue to be charged 2% per month until paid.

Taxes begin with property assessments. Assessments are completed by the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA).
For more information on property assessments please see below.

Tax Rates

Your annual property tax notice will include municipal taxes, as well as taxes imposed by other taxing authorities like school divisions.

After the Province, other taxing authorities and the Village of Buena Vista determines their annual budgets, the Village uses the mills rates (also known as tax rates) and council-approved tax policies to calculate your property tax.

Base Tax Bylaw No. 04/24
Mill Rate Factor Bylaw No. 03/24
Property Tax Incentives & Penalties Bylaw No. 05/2024

What Happens If I Do Not Pay My Property Taxes?

The Tax Enforcement Act and The Tax Enforcement Regulations provide the direction for enforcing the collection of property taxes. The Village of Buena Vista has engaged TAXervice for the management of tax enforcement.

Citizens Guide to Tax Enforcement

Tax Certificates

If you would like to obtain property tax information for a property, you may request a tax certificate. A tax certificate will provide you with the following:

• the amount of taxes levied and still owing; the total amount of arrears; the amount of any current or proposed local improvements attached to the property; whether an assessment appeal is outstanding; and whether there are outstanding amounts that may be added as a result of an order to remedy a condition of the property.

As per Bylaw No. 6/02, a tax certificate is $35 per property. Requests for tax certificates must be made in writing, by email or mail, and clearly identify the requested property by civic address and legal land location.  When sending a tax certificate request by email the image of the cheque for payment must be attached, an unofficial tax certificate will then be emailed back to you, the original will follow by mail once payment has been received.

If you are the property owner and you'd like an update on the balance of your property tax account, please contact the Village Office at admin@buenavista.ca or log into your Customer Portal.

Assessments

2024 Assessment Roll

In April 2024 you may have received an assessment notice in the mail.  This notice would have indicated what changes are being made to the assessed value of your home and information on how to appeal the assessment if it is incorrect.  As stated in The Municipalities Act, you have 30 days to appeal the assessment from when the assessment roll is open.

Per Section 214 of The Municipalities Act, the Village of Buena Vista Bylaw No. 10/23 indicates assessment notices produced in a non-revaluation year shall only be sent if the assessed value increased or decreased from the previous year: by $1,000 or by more than 1% of the total assessed value. If you did not receive an assessment notice there are likely no changes to the assessed value of your property.  When the assessment roll is opened any resident may request an assessment notice for their property and appeal their property assessment.

Property owners are given 30 days, or 60 days in a revaluation year (next is to be done in 2025), to appeal their property assessment.

The Assessment Roll for 2024 is now CLOSED.

Assessment Appeals Guide for Citizens

SAMA (Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency

In order for the municipality to calculate property taxes Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) is responsible for providing municipalities in Saskatchewan with the assessed values of land and improvements (buildings) . SAMA conducts revaluations based on a four-year cycle.

Municipal assessment rolls must be confirmed by the agency for tax enforcement purposes, and once confirmed the roll is valid and binding on all parties. Once a roll is confirmed, the Certificate of Confirmation is provided to the municipality and a copy is posted to the SAMA website.

How Property Assessment Works in Saskatchewan

SAMA Contact Info:

Phone: 306-924-8000 or 1-800-667-7262
Email: info.request@sama.sk.ca
Website: www.sama.sk.ca

Property Assessment Does Not Equal Property Tax

SAMA's role in determining assessed value for properties is just the first part of a process established by provincial legislation. The second part is application of provincial government established tax policy, such as property classes and percentage of value, and statutory exemptions. The third and final part of the process involves municipalities annually determining the local mill rate based on local budget needs. The province sets the mill rate for the education sector. Municipalities then multiply the taxable assessment by the local mill rate to produce property tax levies, also shown as your property tax notice.

SAMAView

SAMAView is a website application that allows the general public access to individual property assessment for all SAMA client jurisdictions.

SAMAView for Public Users
SAMAView - Creating a Public User Account

Municipal Role in Assessment

Council is responsible for:

• Deciding what type of board of revision will serve the municipality best. The Village of Buena Vista uses a District Board of Revision.

• Appointing members to the board of revision early in the year – The Village of Buena Vista makes a resolution appointing members to the board in January of each year.

• Setting the term of office of each member of the board of revision

• Ensuring that its appointed board of revision is certified before any property assessment appeal is heard.
  
  

The Administrator is the assessor unless Council has appointed another employee. Duties of the assessor include:

• Preparing the roll on or before May 1st

• Submit an accurate maintenance list to the assessment provider (Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency - SAMA)

• Incorporate changes in assessment received for the year from the assessment provider

• Ensure all roll information is accurate

• Apply any exemptions

• Calculate the taxable assessment using the percentage of value set by the province

• Advertising in the Gazette and in a local newspaper, that the assessment roll is open for inspection within 15 days of completing the roll

• Correcting the roll for the current year when an error is discovered and the roll is closed