Client Service

Every year at Assessment Services, we process more than 14,000 building permits from Nova Scotia's 55 municipalities, analyse about 20,000 sales that occurred in the market and investigate and processe approximately 10, 000 appeals. In addition, we handle more than 40,000 inquiries from property owners. We measure our success by the accuracy of our valuations and the level of service we provide to our clients.

Accuracy of Our Valuations

Indicators of the accuracy of our data include the number of appeals filed, losses in court and the accuracy of our valuations relative to sales transactions on the market. Below, a chart illustrates that the number of appeals has substantially declined since 1998 while total assessment value increases each year.

Client Service

One of Assessment Services' most important priorities is the provision of outstanding client service to municipalities and property owners. Our day-to-day interaction with our clients includes a multitude of activities: reviewing building permits provided by municipalities, sharing addresses and ownership information with municipal offices, property inspections, and responding to inquiries. The release of assessment notices usually results in 10,000 to 14,000 inquiries from property owners over a 4 week period.

Every year, property owners who call Assessment Services are surveyed to find out how they rate our service. The chart below shows that in 2004, most (71%) were satisfied with how their call was handled. A survey was not conducted in 2000.

More feedback from the 2004 survey of Nova Scotia property owners:

• More than half of respondents (58%) were aware that assessments are
  intended to reflect the market value of their property as of a specific point
  in time.
  
• Most respondents (97%) were aware that they had the right to appeal their
  assessment if they did not agree with their assessment.
  
• Most respondents (74%) were satisfied overall with follow-up call(s) from
  an assessor (a 9% increase from 2003)
  
• Approximately one half of respondents (47%) visited our web site,
  www.nsassessment.ca
  
• Most respondents who visited our web site (73%), were able to find the
  assessment information they were looking for and most (73%) rated the
  site as good or excellent.