Legislation Will Modernize Board of Property Valuation Services Corporation

Legislation introduced today, March 6, will allow Property Valuation Services Corporation to modernize the structure of its board of directors.

The Property Valuation Services Corporation, created in 2008, is an independent, not-for-profit corporation which assesses every property in Nova Scotia.

Currently, the board is comprised of 13 people with six elected members, three municipal administrators, three independent members plus the executive director from the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities.

Changes to the act will result in a smaller board and will allow for:

• the establishment of a recruitment committee to attract board members. This committee would be made up of representatives from the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, the Association of Municipal Administrators and the corporation
• membership terms to increase from three years to four years to better coincide with municipal election cycles and provide more continuity.
• balance between the number of municipally elected officials and municipal administrators. Under the new structure there would be three elected members and three administrators
• four to five independent members as opposed to three

“We’re fortunate in Nova Scotia to have a recognized, independent organization responsible for conducting our property assessments,” said Municipal Affairs Minister Derek Mombourquette. “The corporation believes that changes to its governance structure would benefit its operations and the province is making the required legislative amendments to allow these changes to occur.”

“These amendments are helping us modernize our board of directors and better serve the people of our province,” said Jimmy MacAlpine, chair of the board and warden, Municipality of Digby.

This is the first time since the corporation was created that there have been significant changes to the structure of the board of directors.