The old adage “you can’t fight city hall” is no doubt ringing true for at least one St. John’s property owner.
The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has rejected an appeal filed by a local taxpayer who felt the assessment on his property was too high.
The resident’s home was assessed at $348,200, higher than the $322,900 he believed it should have been assessed at.
He appealed the estimated value to the city’s Assessment Review Court Commissioner, but the ruling upheld the original amount.
However, when the property owner learned that the commissioner had been employed by the city for years prior to being appointed as commissioner, he appealed the decision before the Supreme Court.
In his decision, Justice Justin Mellor said he does not accept the argument that it is somehow improper to appoint a retired employee to an adjudicative tribunal. Justice Mellor says the ground of appeal “fails to raise an identifiable legal issue.”
He suggests that the answer to addressing the property owner’s dissatisfaction with the fairness of the assessment system is “an issue for the ballot box, not the justice system.”
