Resolution 35-03A

WHEREAS, the Information Services Corporation (ISC) has devised a land registration system that is very difficult to work within, as well as an unfair and unreasonable fee structure at the present time; and

WHEREAS, attempting to merely register and remove tax liens is eminently more difficult than the procedure was for the Land Titles Office due to the fact that each parcel of land or title has so many numbers and many single titles have several parcels all of which have added a whole new electronic version of red tape; and

WHEREAS, the ISC is proposing a new fee structure to add to already high fees for services including a proposed $35 packet fee which is likely to be an onerous expense on municipalities due to the new difficulties in merely removing a tax lien;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that SARM lobby the ISC to incorporate a reasonable and fair fee structure, and a simplified, more user friendly system that enables the user to be able to work within the system in a more rational fashion.

Response from the Honourable Eric Cline, Q.C., Minister Responsible for Information Services Corporation:

The extensive consultations that were held by Information Services Corporation (ISC) of Saskatchewan resulted in many changes to the rebalanced fee model. Feedback such as yours was integral to developing a model that balances the needs of many competing interests. Municipalities will benefit from the new fee schedule that was implemented April 14, 2003. The fees to register tax liens have been reduced from $40 to $25 per lien. Value based fee for transfers will also save municipalities in taking titles for tax purposes.

Additionally, there will be no cost outside of the $10 submission fee for registering property less than $500 in value, including minerals. Out customers told us the current fee schedule isn't fair to people in smaller communities, people with low-value mineral titles, or to farmers who have many titles on parcels of land. This rebalanced fee model begins to address these perceived inequities.