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Assessment is not our job

Why have residents been tasked with doing B.C. Assessment’s job by filling out a Rural Residential Questionnaire?

Why have residents been tasked with doing B.C. Assessment’s job by filling out a Rural Residential Questionnaire?

You’re to provide them with the square footage of all buildings, rooms in your house, decks, porches, basements, carports, etc., basically for any and all structures on your property. They want to know what year they were constructed, what the buildings are used for, any upgrades or improvements you’ve made, when upgrades were done, even if it was before you purchased your property.

They want to know about your water source, electricity, what type of sewage and heating system you have, and when it was installed. You need to indicate if you’ve changed counter tops, fixtures, cabinets, flooring, doors, windows, electrical wiring, insulation or even if you’ve painted the exterior.

You also need to tell them if you have an in-ground pool or hot tub and how big it is. This is not our job.

Our questionnaire has a picture of the back of our house, that was taken when we listed our house for sale with a real estate agent. They’ve entered numbers on the form for square footage of the main floor, but it’s 20 sq. ft. larger than the number they put for the cement slab it’s on.

In 25 years, no one from B.C. Assessment has come to our property. It’s bad enough that assessments have been unfairly based on sales in your area, especially in rural areas where every property and house is so different. Now you’re going to help set your tax rate based on answering their questionnaire? Again — not our job.

Brenda HadleyCoombs