‘I was disappointed’: Property owner reacts to denied secondary audit

The Saskatchewan Assessment Management Association’s (SAMA) decision to deny a secondary audit on commercial properties is being met with disappointment. 

During the March 13 city council meeting, city manager Jim Puffalt told council that the city’s request to have SAMA’s Quality Assurance Division conduct a secondary audit was denied. 

Kristy Van Slyck from Veridian Properties gave her action to SAMA’s decision. 

“I wasn't surprised, but I was disappointed. There are obvious errors and each year they keep finding errors and that's why everybody's assessments are changing each year,” she said. 

She added that she’s not surprised because she’s been unsuccessful in getting answers from SAMA for over a year now. 

In the letter to the city, Quality Assurance Director Karlo Simonson said a preliminary audit on the income model used in Moose Jaw found no issues that would require a secondary audit. 

Van Slyck disagreed, saying that SAMA had made numerous errors and there is essentially no way to appeal these errors. 

She said her next step will be to go to the Ministry of Government Relations to see if the province will conduct an independent audit. 

“Hopefully that can go somewhere because SAMA told Jim (Puffalt) we don't have any options, but there's always an option. This is funded by the municipalities and funded by the province,” Van Slyck said. 

SAMA is in the process of analyzing additional sales data and is expected to present any major shifts in the 2023 assessment roll during city council’s next meeting on March 27.