Welcome to 2012. Your bill is...

The anticipation of a new year wore off quickly with my mail on Jan. 2. I received my B.C.

Assessment notice. While I'm happy our property values aren't mirroring what's happening in the U.S., it's just an early reminder of the impending bill for property taxes. Hello 2012!

My wife gets all excited when she opens it up and sees the value. "Look at what our house is worth now!" It's nice to read, but it's not like we can spend any of it.

If I could have my way, the value would stay the same as the day we bought it until the week before we sell, when it would jump 300 per cent.

I do appreciate that B.C. Assessment takes the time to review the market, understand what has been happening with sales and applies the information to my property, along with those of my neighbours. I contacted the office last year questioning the amount, and it provided a lot of information about how it arrived at my value.

From that discussion, and the additional background it provided, I found I had a case to challenge the value of my property. I did, and it was brought more in line with the values in my neighbourhood.

The process for my assessment is fair - there may be good news or bad news - but I'm told everything I need to make a decision, and can challenge parts I don't agree with. I may win, or I may not, but at least I can have the discussion. Since this is such an important part of determining my municipal taxes, I'm glad to be able to have input.

I guess that's why I support the introduction of a municipal auditor general.

A second set of eyes looking at how our taxes are spent is not a bad thing (I proposed this for the school board while running for trustee). The Vancouver school board has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct a resource review. The provincial and federal governments have independent auditors general.

How else would we have learned of problems with the gun registry or the Quebec sponsorship program? The headlines tend to grab the bad news out of these reviews, which is why I can understand the opposition to such a program by many municipal leaders in the province.

With the dismal turnouts at municipal elections, many mayors can be elected by as little as 15 per cent of eligible voters. Yet they still control significant budgets, funded by the local citizens.

Further, the mayors don't have the news media peppering them with tough questions every day, especially those outside of major cities.

In essence, the role of the municipal auditor general is to provide feedback on efficiency of delivering services, much like a job performance review. I was always apprehensive of performance reviews - no one likes to hear criticism - but a review showed where I could improve. It also showed where my work was adding value to the company, which made it the best time to ask for a raise.

I guess it depends if you see the glass as half full of half empty.

My assessment reminds me to start saving for my tax bill, due in July. Yeah, July... summer, here we come!