Letter — Complacency brings higher residential property taxes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/10/2023 (888 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last year (according to the city) the Downtown Hub represented 12 per cent of the city’s property tax base. But this is in the process of undergoing a dramatic reduction. It is likely that this will be reduced to six per cent or less within the coming years.

The missing tax revenue will have to be distributed onto the residential tax assessments of homeowners. The year 2022 saw reduction in assessments of the former TD Bank property from $1.312 million to the $600,000 range. The property at 501 Rosser Ave. saw its assessment reduced from above $1.3 million to the current $739,000. The Town Centre, which is currently assessed at $6,944,400, just sold for $3.9 million, and undoubtedly the owners will successfully appeal and obtain a reduced assessment, thus leading to reduced property tax revenue.

Other property owners will undoubtedly follow this trend.

It didn’t have to be this way. Ten years ago, there was a renaissance in downtown Brandon. In fact, the BDDC was at one time known as Renaissance Brandon, and a variety of businesses opened up in the downtown core. The downtown area was written up as being the fifth-best downtown area for small cities on Expedia Canada Travel Blog. The city had previously recognized that there was something going on, and also realized that access and parking were issues that needed to be dealt with.

An ill-fated attempt at closing Rosser Avenue was abandoned after seven or so days and a study on parking was commissioned from one of North America’s leading experts. Rather than implement the modest recommendations, successive administrations ignored the problem and the recommendations. Had they been implemented, increased access and parking would have allowed the businesses to take advantage of increased customer traffic, and the strongest of those businesses might have survived the pandemic-induced downturn.

The BDDC is still studying the concept of increased parking some 11 years later. It is worth noting that the stronger businesses located in the downtown core are all in areas without restricted/limited parking in front of them — Benny’s, A & L Cycle, the dance academies and brew pubs.

Now we face another problem — low-level crime and vagrancy that is not being addressed and contributing to the decline making things much worse. This aside from low-level drug use, which may or may not be difficult to control. The former police chief, Wayne Balcaen, didn’t believe in attempting to control it, as he has frequently been quoted as saying “You can’t arrest your way out of the problem.”

This is not the way to correct anything. While low-level drug use may be hard to keep in check, surely the dealers and predators can be controlled through proper, effective policing — but they are not even trying. Earlier this year, a businessman observed a drug deal being transacted on his property and confronted them. He took pictures of the people and vehicles involved — he was assaulted and called the police. When they responded, the police said they had instructions from the Crown attorneys not to arrest or issue a summons about it. Is it any wonder why the downtown continues to deteriorate?

If the city police and Crown attorneys do not wish to even attempt to do their jobs, perhaps it is time for a more radical approach — the municipal policing problem. While dealers and predators might not be jailed for first offences, after three or four offences they will be, and the problems can be brought under control or at least not increase. Perhaps it is time to disband the Brandon Police Service and have the city hire the RCMP municipal branch to provide policing services for the city.

One thing is certain: if the problem is not addressed, it will get worse, and with it will come declining property values and property taxes that will have to be made up by transferring the deficit created onto the residential tax base.

Aside from this obvious situation, the city is in the process of trying to dispose of or redevelop the property on Ninth Street and Princess Avenue, and these problems only act as an impediment to any proposed future redevelopment.

STEVE BAKER

Brandon