Perth County concerns with provincial assessment information seems to mirror Wellington North’s own set of concerns with MPAC and the fallout from incorrect farm assessment values.
On Nov. 2, council reviewed and offered its support to Perth County’s resolution that states that while the incorrect values will be adjusted by Municipal Property Assessment Corporation for affected taxpayers, such adjustments may well end up affecting everyone if there ends up being a budget shortfall created by municipalities required to write off the differences.
Perth noted similar problems are created when outstanding building permits are not processed in a timely manner.
It is asking that MPAC provide additional and proactive reporting to municipalities to disclose such pending assessment changes in the future.
It also wants MPAC to process outstanding building permits to ensure assessment revenue is not lost.
Further, it wants the Ministry of Finance to reconcile the 2009 Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, and to adjust the 2010 calculations to their proper values.
Councillors believed in supporting the resolution from Perth, but councillor Dan Yake still believes Wellington North should have its own resolution.
Councillor Ross Chaulk said if Wellington North works on its own, there should be two resolutions. One of the issues is the loss of the farm tax rebate.
“There used to be a farm tax rebate before; now farmers just pay 25% of the residential rate,” Chaulk said.
As a result, he said the municipality lost 75% of its farm assessment, which is used in the OMPF calculation.
“Until the province reimburses municipalities for the loss of farm taxation revenue, there’s going to be a big void in this province.”
Chaulk maintains it is rural areas that are picking up the slack.
“People in Ottawa, Toronto, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, or whatever … They don’t subsidize the cost of farming like they used to. Now its just the rural areas. People in the bigger cities eat. You see these signs day to day that say ‘Thank a Farmer.’ They should also be thanking rural municipalities for taking a 75% hit on farm taxation revenue.”
He added he is not knocking the farm community. “The problem is with the province and how they are treating rural municipalities.”
Yake said, “You’re not catching my point. MPAC isn’t doing their job; it’s plain and simple.”
Chaulk did not disagree, but said underlying all that is the loss of the 75% farm tax revenue. “There’s something wrong when places like Toronto, Niagara Falls, etc. are not helping to offset the cost of farming in the province.”
Treasurer John Jeffrey agreed there is more than one issue.
From MPAC, the township needs reliable figures that don’t change all the time, Jeffrey said. “This year, there were some severe errors on someone’s part.”
Jeffrey said an error affects areas with large farm assessments. That farm assessment in Wellington North starts off artificially low because of that 25% tax rate, and is made even lower because of the errors.
He added it is the erroneous assessment roles from last December that are used in calculating the township’s OMPF qualification grant.
“The errors collide to make matters worse.”
He suggested a second resolution should exist regarding compensation to municipalities for the loss of farm taxation revenue.
