GOVERNMENT TO SHARE COST OF NEW LAND SYSTEM BETWEEN CURRENT USERS AND PROVINCIAL TREASURY

Eric Cline, the Minister responsible for the Information Services Corporation (ISC) of Saskatchewan today announced details of a rebalanced business model for ISC.

"In recent months, we have seen significant improvements to ISC's service levels, including a three-day turnaround time on most transactions," Cline said. "Clearly, the LAND System is working, and ISC is focused on making it even better. A rebalanced business model begins to address revenue pressures that face ISC and provides opportunity to implement new efficiencies."

Cline said automating the Land Registry has resulted in necessary one-time costs including about $17 million to convert more than 900,000 paper titles into electronic data. "It is fair that this cost be recovered over time and shared as an infrastructure investment that benefits future generations. Therefore, the provincial government has rejected a proposal to dramatically increase fees on a pure user-pay model, opting instead to reduce the rate increase by suspending the annual $11.7 million licensing fee that ISC pays into the General Revenue Fund."

Saskatchewan's fees will continue to compare favourably to other Canadian provinces. For example, the cost to transfer a $100,000 home with a $75,000 mortgage will be $496, compared to $1,136 in British Columbia, $562 in Manitoba and $923 in Ontario. Under the new model, some customers will pay more and some will pay less, depending upon the number of titles they have and the value of their property. Those with low value property, or many titles will benefit most from the changes. Outside of a submission fee, there is no charge for transferring ownership on titles worth less than $500. Local taxing authorities will pay less for registering tax liens, which is a benefit to all ratepayers.

"ISC has held extensive consultations with customers and this rebalancing begins to address some of their concerns, while beginning to provide the revenue required to maintain an accurate and reliable Land Registry," ISC President and CEO, Mark MacLeod said. "Our focus now is to demonstrate to customers that they are receiving value from ISC and to continue to improve our service levels."

MacLeod said since the start of 2003, the system is processing standard transactions and simple corrections more quickly. About 90 per cent of transactions are done electronically meaning people are doing their business from their offices or homes and not driving to an office as was required in the paper-system. Steps have also been taken to make it easier to sign-in to the LAND System and improve Web site navigation.

The new fee schedule takes effect April 14th, 2003. It includes a return to a value-based fee of 0.3 per cent on change of ownership for properties worth more than $8,400. A fee-for-service remains in place for most other Land Registry transactions, including mortgage registrations and interest amendments or assignments. Fees will be eliminated for some services, including title history, the image of a paper title or instrument, and parcel detail. The cost to search a title or abstract will increase from $6 to $10. The changes are expected to result in a 22 per cent increase in revenues for ISC. This is the first of a two-phased approach to rebalancing fees at ISC.

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For More Information, Contact:

Shawna Kelly Information Services Corporation Regina Phone: (306)787-3447 Email: shawna.kelly@isc-online.ca Cell: (306)535-3309