Resolutions

Therefore be it resolved that SUMA lobby the Provincial Government to allow Municipal Government the ability to assess additional mill rate factors against property that is contaminated and registered for monitoring by Sask. Environment.

Reponse: Pursuant to the Environmental Management and Protection Act, 2002, the person or persons responsible for the discharge that resulted in the contaminated site are responsible for the discharge that resulted in the contaminated site are responsible to the Minister of Environment to undertake remedial action. Municipalities are not responsible for the cost of remediation unless they are one of the persons responsible for the discharge. Government recently decided that it would not be in the interest of all stakeholders to amend The Municipalities Act to extend the authority to create subclasses, which would have given the ability to assess additional mill rate factors against certain properties. The Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency’s (SAMA) assessment manual currently provides for an environmental contamination adjustment factor which accounts for the loss in value to the property due to the presence of a physical environmental contaminant. The level of environmental contamination adjustment has various ranges (i.e. 10%, 50% or 100%) of the estimated cost-to cure the environmental contamination issue, depending on if the property is still usable and if the use is the same or different from its prior use before the contamination was identified.