Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the assessment is under the Property Assessment and Taxation Act. It is a legislation of this Legislative Assembly. In the Act, it spells out how to carry out the work and what to do. The property assessment includes a number of things.
It includes conducting a property assessment. They physically go to every... they did not this time, but they were supposed to. In some cases they do. The property owner in the Northwest Territories pay property taxes to the assessed values. I think the deputy minister already went through the list, but again, the assessment is based on the value of the physical and real property. They look at the log and try to determine what it is worth.
They also try to include the improvements, such as water services or sewer, or electrical services. They also look at the building construction. If it is residential and there are improvements. As well, the market value of the property in the community.
They also look at the development costs of the land. If you were to develop the land at the time, they try to determine what it would cost to develop the lot. They also try to consider other land costs in the same area. There is a way that they are supposed to determine that.
The property assessments have gone up quite a bit, between 300 to 400 percent. I think that is what is causing a lot of concern in the communities in the Northwest Territories. There is a board that reviews where individuals can go to put in their complaint.
The honourable Member also mentioned that people have put in a complaint to the Board of Revision last year and may not have heard back. That is something that we have to check on. We do not have that information right now. We will see who complained last year and did not receive a response.
The actual taxation in MACA assessed property for all of the Northwest Territories communities, except the city of Yellowknife, which assesses and collects their own taxes. In the other communities, non-taxed based communities, MACA assessed the property and the Department of Finance sends out the tax notices and collects the taxes.
The tax rate is set by the Department of Finance. I am told if the assessment is really high, it does not mean that the taxes will be high. They are trying to balance it off. Perhaps I could be corrected here. We are responsible for the assessment, and Finance is responsible for the actual tax rate. I am told that even though the property may go up, it does not mean that the taxes go up equivalently. We are trying to maintain the same level. Thank you.