Assessment office slated to close
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B.C. Assessment will shut down its Penticton office next year, but the people working there will not lose their jobs.
Instead, the nine staff members will be offered “continued employment” at B.C. Assessment’s Kelowna office. The move will consolidate the Crown corporation’s Penticton and Vernon offices to an expanded Kelowna office by Dec. 31, 2010.
The timing of the announcement, B.C. Assessment said, will allow the 22 staff (13 from Vernon) about a year to make personal arrangements regarding the relocation of their jobs to Kelowna.
“It is important to note that no staff will be laid off,” said Connie Fair, president and CEO of B.C. Assessment.
“The leases for these two small offices are expiring so it is an opportune time to amalgamate these operations that are within close proximity to Kelowna to save costs for taxpayers.”
B.C. Assessment is an independent provincial Crown corporation, governed by a board of directors appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in council, with the mandate to produce uniform and efficient property assessments on a yearly basis for all property owners in B.C.
According to the corporation, consolidating operations in Kelowna will save taxpayers an estimated $441,000 annually, starting in 2011.
In the past, Vernon and Penticton offices only serviced single family residential properties, with all other property types in the Okanagan region (e.g. commercial, farms, industrial, strata residential) serviced in the Kelowna office.
Very few of B.C. Assessment’s customers make inquiries in person at offices, with more than 84 per cent of its Okanagan customers using the telephone to make contact. According to the corporation, during the January 2009 inquiry period, when property owners received their new assessment notice, only 325 people made inquiries in person at the Vernon and Penticton offices.
“We remain committed to providing excellent property assessment services to residents of the Vernon and Penticton areas,” said Fair. “We will make sure that our staff are available to all property owners as required.”
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