The Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) says it’s been informed that BC Assessment will not be going forward with planned changes to the assessed value of pipelines.
The decision not to change the pipeline valuation model comes as “very good news” for municipalities and regional districts, according to TNRD board chair Barbara Roden. Local governments were preparing to have their property tax revenue slashed significantly by the assessment changes, which were proposed to take effect next year.
The assessment changes would have amounted to millions of dollars in tax breaks for pipeline companies, which appeared to have successfully lobbied BC Assessment over a nine-year period to update the pipeline cost model to reflect current industry costs — something that hadn’t been done since the 1980s.
Local governments were informed in September of the proposed change to how BC Assessment values pipelines. After the notification, TNRD finance staff prepared preliminary information for the TNRD board on the significant negative impacts these changes would cause for taxpaying residents in many areas, the TNRD said in a release Wednesday evening, Dec. 17.
After receiving this information, the board advocated to Premier David Eby, the Ministry of Finance, and BC Assessment for the changes to be postponed.
The regional distict said the proposed change would have decreased pipeline tax values by between 23 and 30 per cent next year, which would have shifted a significant amount of annual TNRD property taxes from pipeline companies onto residential and business properties.
On Wednesday, BC Assessment provided notice that pipeline tax values within TNRD boundaries will instead be increasing by approximately seven per cent in 2026, according to the TNRD. Rather than going up, pipeline tax values would have dropped to the tune of $300 million next year in the TNRD alone if BC Assessment’s proposal had gone through. This would have dramatically cut into the tax bases of TNRD communities.
“The announcement that the regulated rates valuation model for pipelines will not change for the upcoming 2026 assessment roll year is very good news for the many regional districts and municipalities that were dealing with the impacts of the proposed changes,” Roden said.
“It’s especially good news for other property classes — particularly residential and business — which would have had to shoulder the burden of the proposed changes. The TNRD would have seen residents and businesses have to make up $1 million in lost pipeline revenue through increased taxation if the change had gone through.”
Roden added the TNRD was “one of the first local governments to realize the implications of the proposed changes,” and has led the way in advocating for the changes to be postponed.
“We are grateful that our suggestions have been listened to, and thank BC Assessment and the Province of BC for this decision,” she said. “We look forward to working with BC Assessment and the Province to ensure that any future changes are done with fairness and transparency.”
On Monday, the TNRD said it sent its second letter urging the Finance Minister to request that the proposed changes to pipeline assessments be immediately postponed, until local governments can be engaged in a “thorough consultation process to ensure fairness and transparency.”
BC Assessment could not be reached for comment at the time of this story’s publication.