~  COUNG

1? 1976

TO: Mayor and Council April 5th, 1976

FROM: L.D. Pollock
City Administrator

Re: Report on B.C. Assessment Authority |

Alderman Thompson asked that 1 prepare a report on the effects of the
Provincial Assessment Authority as to quality, quantity and cost, eté.
For purposes of this Report, I have confined my investigations to discussions

with our own Staff and with Mr. Andy Wyatt, the Area Assessor,

When the Assessment Authority was formed in 1974, the Administrators
were asked to comment on the re-organization of the Assessment function
and bring to the attention of .the Authority any problems we might forsee
in having this function operate under an independent authority. I wrote
to Mr. Wyatt in November of 1974 and set out some of my concerns. A
copy of my letter is attached for Council's information. Basically, my

concern was that the Real Property Assessment Records are the backbone

of the whole Municipal operation and to urge them to treat these records
with the respect they deserve. It was my concern that an independent
Authority might not realize the importance of tight control or the
effects of changing the method of handling property records without
consultation with the municipality. There is probably not too much of
a problem in the short term as most employees of the Authority are ex-~
‘municipal employees and realize the importance of The Real Property

Roll, but in the future as new employees are hired, this may change.

With the Authority going into its second year, I feel that the transition

has been carried out quite smocthly and effectively. There have been
tiinor problems in communication and information transfer, however, most
of these appear to have been resolved with a minimum of inconvenience to
our Municipality, on the other hand, there are areas where we do not
have the convenience of having the Assessment Department "in house", or

at least under our jurisdiction, and these are: