Residential Vacation Properties Assessment Review

WHEREAS many primaryyear-round residences in desirable vacation locales throughout British Columbia have recently seen inordinate property tax increases due to rapidly rising assessment levels, driven in large part by the demand for vacationrecreation residences; AND WHEREAS many moderate-income families living year-round in vacation locales are finding it increasingly difficult to afford their rapidly rising property taxes, despite the Home Owner Grant; AND WHEREAS recreational properties used for vacation residences represent a substantially different use from properties used for primaryyear-round residences: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities request that the provincial government and the BC Assessment Authority address the disparities within the existing residential assessment class, with consideration given to establishing separate assessment classifications for primaryyear-round residential use and vacationrecreation residential use, in order to permit the setting of varying tax rates for the two uses.