fiefdoms.sask
fiefdoms.sask
SASKATCHEWAN... "LAND of LIVING SKIES"
Fiefdoms of Saskatchewan aka Saskatchewan Regional Parks
In the Regional Parks of Saskatchewan, people own their homes, on land leased from local management authorities which operate at a frightening level of autonomy, enabled by political interference and willful blindness from their municipal and provincial oversight governments.
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In Suffern Lake Regional Park, the local authority holds a Crown lease through the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment and sub-leases lots to cabin owners... what could go wrong when there is provincial government oversight? Much.
We identified and reported province-wide assessment manipulation and tax evasion to the appropriate government oversight bodies expecting acknowledgement and correction. What we got was multiple contrived court actions filed against us by one of the tax offenders, Suffern Lake Regional Park Authority.
Multiple = Nine as of April 2024
IDENTIFIED SUFFERN LAKE REGIONAL PARK CROWN LEASE INFRACTIONS
Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment grants Regional Park leases which require compliance with “all provisions of law, including federal, provincial or municipal, which relate to the said land or the Lessee’s maintenance, operation and use of the said land” and provisions of numerous provincial Acts.[1]
Suffern Lake Regional Park Non-Compliance Infractions
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Taxation: Failure to follow required reporting processes enabled SLRPA to manipulate assessment values. This scenario was confirmed by former Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) CEO Irwin Blank on February 21, 2020.[2]
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Rural Municipality of Senlac (RM411) holds mandated taxation authority for Suffern Lake Regional Park as per The Regional Parks Act, Regional Park Regulations and The Regional Parks Administration Agreement. The RM delegated responsibility for SAMA reporting to SLRPA.
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Minimized assessment values allowed SLRPA to evade paying appropriate provincial EPT amounts. Following SAMA’s onsite revaluation of Suffern Lake cabins, community value more than doubled ($2,083,700 - $4,019,000).[3]
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The minimized assessment values have potentially impacted federal taxation through false capital gains reporting.
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SLRPA perjured themselves in sworn court statements regarding the above documented taxation wrongdoing (SK QB174 of 2019; SK QB 230, 231 and 232 of 2019; SK QB 174 and 175 of 2021).
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SLRPA had also failed to report to SAMA that an official survey of the cabin community had been undertaken. This allowed them to avoid assessment values on lots which were being assessed at a standard “plot” rate of $900. Following SAMA’s onsite assessment, 2021 lot values now range from $8,800 to $35,500.
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Leased lots are now subject to taxation at Suffern Lake Regional Park yet leased lots at Wakaw Lake Regional Park, which are valued significantly higher, are not. This is a serious tax inequity.
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Additional instances of long-term tax evasion have been confirmed at other regional parks including Eston Riverside, the now dismantled Lemsford Ferry and Jean Louis Legare.[4]
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Thirty-five million dollars worth of inappropriately applied municipal exemptions in resort villages were retracted in the 2021 revaluations.
[1] Crown Resource Land Lease Property Number 350340, Lessee Suffern Lake Regional Park (Acts and Regulations, page 2 paragraphs 1 and 2).
[2] Blank’s letter acknowledging SLRPA wrongdoing 2020-02-21cc’d to Saskatchewan Ministries of Justice, Government Relations, Parks and Executive Council. Additional supporting correspondence from Blank includes 17 pieces of private communication with Norm Zigarlick.
[3] Chart of property changes recorded on SAMA View.
[4] RM of Snipe Lake letter acknowledging 32 of 98 cottages inappropriately held wholly exempt status; CEO Blank letter containing the results of SAMA inquiry into Lemsford Ferry inappropriate tax exemptions; FOIP documents Ministry of Parks informing RM of Willow Bunch to correct their failure to collect property and EPT taxes re Jean Louis Legare Regional Park/Willow Bunch Golf Course