Assessment & Taxes
Assessment
The municipality plays a limited role in the assessed value of your property.
SAMA (Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency) is the assessment provider for Saskatchewan municipalities. SAMA’s website www.sama.sk.ca has detailed property reports and a wealth of information to assist the public.
Every four (4) years, during “Revaluation” years you will receive an Assessment Notice in the Spring. The next revaluation year is 2025. In other years, you will receive an Assessment Notice only if there has been a change in the value of the property (due to development, demolition or otherwise) or if there has been a change to the ownership.
However, you may appeal the assessed value of your property every year but only during the period when the Assessment Roll is open, in April/May of each year. The Assessment roll is open for appeals for 30 days (or 60 days during Revaluation years). The fee to appeal is $200.00 per property, however this fee will be returned to you if your appeal is successful. Appeals are considered by an appointed Board of Revision.
Tip: Assessments cannot be appealed on the basis of “my taxes are too high”. You can however appeal such matters as the property valuation details (e.g. percent of completion), property classification (e.g. Commercial vs Residential) or any tax exemption applied or not applied.
R.M. of Wheatland’s Board of Revision is facilitated by Western Municipal Consulting Ltd out of Meota, SK, check out their website for more information www.westernmunicipal.ca
For a comprehensive review of Assessment Appeals click the link to read the Government of Saskatchewan’s guide: Citizen’s Guide to Assessment Appeals
Coming Up
2025 Revaluation Year – this is the next scheduled Revaluation Year, where your current property is revalued based on actual market sales of comparable property up to a base date of January 1, 2023. Revalued assessments will be shown on the 2025 Assessment Notices in April 2025.
2024 Reinspection – SAMA began reinspection of all property in the RM in Summer 2024. This is a physical review of each property for any new assessable property, removed (demo’d) buildings, change in use (e.g. commercial), etc. The previous reinspection done in the RM of Wheatlands was over 35 years ago! New assessments will be shown on the 2024 Assessment Notices in April/May 2024.
2025 Revaluation Handout from SAMA
Resources
Educational Publications | SAMA – Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency
293 Exemption on Primary Farm Residences
The Municipalities Act provides that certain dwellings (residences/homes) in an RM are exempt from taxation. A residence may be either fully exempt, partially exempt or receive no exemption at all based on the criteria set out in section 293 of the Act. For example, unoccupied residences situated on agricultural land are fully exempt from taxation. When it comes to occupied residences, an exemption may apply based on its location in the RM and any agricultural land owned or leased by the occupant.
Occupied Residences Located In Hamlets, Organized Hamlets (OH), Or Special Service Areas (SSA) Are Not Eligible To Receive A Tax Exemption.
A 293 Exemption Form must be sent to the RM office on new exemptions (leased and neighboring RMs land) prior to the annual March 31st deadline.
RM of Wheatlands 293 Exemption Form
Taxation
Taxes are levied by August 1st with taxes due by December 31st each year. Discounts are available for payment of taxes prior to December 1st.
Discount rates are as follows:
- Jan 1 – Sept 30: 5% Discount
- Oct 1 – Oct 31: 4% Discount
- Nov 1 – Nov 30: 2% Discount
- Dec 1 – Dec 31: 0% Discount
Discounts are applicable to all municipal taxes and hail premiums only. Discounts do not apply to School taxes.
Tax Tools
Council has a few tools in their tax toolbelt which are utilized each and every year in setting the municipal tax rates.
- Mill Rate: this must be established by resolution of Council and is the rate of taxation for municipal taxes
- Mill Rate Factor (MRF): this must be adopted by Bylaw, and is a factor applied to the Mill Rate for certain property classes (Agricultural, Residential, Commercial). It allows Council to either increase or decrease the mill rate by applying a factor to the mill rate.
- Minimum Tax: this must be adopted by Bylaw, and is a minimum threshold of tax that must be levied for certain property classes and can be applied to either Land, Building or both. It will show on the Tax Notice as either “Minimum Tax – Land”; “Minimum Tax – Improvement”; “Minimum Tax – Property” respectively.
Tax Authorities
- Municipal – general municipal, established by Council
- School – established by the Province, the RM remits collections each month to the ministry
- Hail – established by landowner in accordance with the Sask Municipal Hail Insurance policy taken on the land, the RM remits collections to SMHI each month
2025 Rates
The below rates apply to all taxable property in the RM of Wheatlands:
Minimum tax – Land $25.00 flat rate
Minimum tax – Improvements $25.00 flat rate
Minimum tax – Combined land and improvements $50.00 flat rate
| 2025 Mill Rates | 2024 Mill Rates | Difference | |
| Mill Rate | 3.9 mills | 5.4 mills | -1.5 |
| Mill Rate Factors (MRF) | |||
| Agriculture | 0.70 mills | 0.70 mills | 0 |
| Residential | 1.20 mills | 1.00 mills | +.20 |
| Comm/Ind | 2.25 mills | 2.20 mills | +.05 |
| Resource | 2.25 mills | 2.20 mills | +.05 |
How Taxes Are Calculated
Taxes are calculated off of the assessed value and classification of your property. So, it’s extremely important that you review your Assessment Notice when you receive one or review your detailed property reports on SAMA’s website.
Assessed Value x Property Class Taxable Assessment % = Taxable Assessment
Taxable Assessment x Mill Rates (or Effective Mill Rate if using a MRF) = Tax Payable
Tax Payable < Minimum Tax = Minimum Tax is the Tax Payable
Each taxing authority (municipal, school and hail (if applicable) are applied in the same manner at their applicable rate and the total of all levies is the total taxes owing for the year.
Example Using 2024 Rates:
A quarter of crop land is assessed at 165,100. It is classified as “Other Agriculture”, which uses 55% of it’s assessed value. This results in a Taxable Assessment of 90,805.
100-Municipal (municipal tax calculation): 90,805 x (Mill Rate 5.4 x MRF 0.70 ÷ 1000) = $343.24
200-School (school tax calculation): 90,805 x (Mill Rate 1.42 ÷ 1000) = $128.94.
Total tax levy owing = $472.18 ($343.24 municipal + $128.94 school). In the example below, there is $39.47 of outstanding arrear, so the total amount owing for this property would be $511.65.
2024 Assessment Notice Example
Tax Enforcement
Taxes are due by December 31st of each year. After this time, interest accrues monthly at 1.876%. The RM generally commences its Tax Enforcement process, in accordance with The Tax Enforcement Act, in the fall.
The RM uses TAXervice for their tax enforcement services. All TAXervice fees shall be added to the tax roll, in accordance with The Tax Enforcement Act.
The guide below is a helpful tool in understanding the process of Tax Enforcement:
Government of Saskatchewan – Citizen’s Guide to Tax Enforcement
NOTE: unpaid custom work or utility charges are transferred to taxes as of December 31st of each year and form part of the taxes (in accordance with The Municipalities Act), and thereby are applicable to Tax Enforcement.
General Process
- Advertisement in local newspaper (The Moose Jaw Express)
- Cost of ad is added to taxes
- 60 days following Advertisement, a Tax Lien is registered onto title
- Cost of lien is added to taxes
- 6 months after Tax Lien, the Six-Month Notice is issued by registered letter
- Cost of registered letter is added to taxes
- 6 months after Six Month Notice, one of two steps occur depending on the property’s value
- Council may pass a motion to take title to the property, in lieu of tax arrears; or
- RM applies to the Provincial Mediation Board to take over tax-enforcement (cost of this application is added to taxes). PMB may give consent to the RM to take title to the property, in lieu of tax arrears (it is prudent you respond to ALL correspondence from the PMB to avoid consent being granted on account of no response).