The Assessment Review Board (ARB) is committed to fulfilling its mandate of resolving property assessment disputes within the regular four-year assessment cycle, however, with the postponement of the general reassessment for the 2021 taxation year, the common understanding is that the current assessment cycle has increased to a five (5) year assessment cycle.
We are writing to advise you of our expectations in resolving appeals before the next assessment cycle begins, including with newly filed 2021 appeals.
We are now at the end of the four-year assessment cycle, and the Board continues to evaluate its caseload and improve processes that were established at the beginning of 2017. Building on the Board’s successes to date, with the continued focus on our digital-first approach to providing services, please note the following updates:
- New Rules of Practice and Procedure: come into effect on April 1, 2021. The Board provided a consultation period from October to November 2020 so that stakeholders could provide feedback and/or recommendations on updates made to the Rules. This feedback resulted in reducing the schedule of events for the General stream from 66-104 weeks to 40-49 weeks.
- 2021 Appeals: New appeals filed for 2021 will be assigned a schedule of events.
- Legacy Appeals Initiative: The Board will continue to monitor legacy appeal proceedings and, where required, will schedule a case conference to provide any necessary direction to ensure the timely resolution of these appeals. As of January 2020, there were approximately 7600 legacy appeals. As of March 2021, there are 1369 appeals.
- Tax Appeals: Where a tax appeal is currently assigned to the General proceeding along with Assessment Act appeals, and the Assessment Act appeals are resolved, the Board will assign an earlier due date for filing documents to be relied on at the hearing, and schedule a Summary proceeding hearing.
- Hearing Months Assigned: All current appeals assigned to be heard by general or summary proceeding have been assigned a hearing month. Where a hearing is necessary, the parties are expected to proceed with the hearing by the assigned hearing month. Parties may request a hearing at a later date by completing an Expedited Board Directions Form . This request must be submitted within one week of the completion of the settlement conference. Where the request is granted, the Board will schedule the hearing event.
- Hearing Timelines: All current appeal proceedings assigned to be heard by general proceeding, which are not resolved at the Mandatory Meeting stage, will be scheduled to a settlement conference within eight weeks of the Mandatory Meeting Form due date. If the appeal is not resolved at the settlement conference, the appeal will be scheduled within eight weeks. Unless the parties have complied with the Board’s Rules to elect to obtain additional expert reports, the Board requires that all parties complete all their pre-hearing work, including the exchange of disclosure, no later than the due date for filing the Mandatory Meeting Form.
- Deeming: Any appeal proceeding that has not been resolved by March 31, 2021, will be deemed to have a 2021 appeal.
- e-filing: Remember to e-file your appeals. The Board is currently considering a policy of only accepting e-filed appeals.
- Ongoing Digital Improvements: Where it can, the Board will continue to reduce the use of paper documents, improve and update its processes and systems, work with parties to modernize the transfer of information, and explore ways to improve the use of technology to provide faster and more efficient services.
Expectations:
The Board’s goal is that 85% of all appeals should be resolved before the beginning of the next assessment cycle. The Board expects that all parties continue working collaboratively, towards resolving their appeals.
The Board will continue to review all outstanding appeals to determine whether a case conference should be scheduled. The Board requests that all representatives review their active caseloads to assess whether there is any opportunity to expedite the completion of an appeal proceeding. If so, please contact the Registrar, or submit a request for an Expedited Board Directions Form .
As the next assessment cycle approaches, the Board will be issuing an Appeals Resolution Strategy for Active Appeals. The Board looks forward to working with all stakeholders to efficiently resolve appeals in a timely manner and appreciates your commitment and dedication in achieving this goal.