THE MUNICIPAL TAX REGIME: QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES

The Sharbot Lake Property Owners' Association (SLPOA) is an association of full and part-time residents, open to commercial interests and owners of farms, and includes owners of lake-front and residents who do not.

Preamble

A number of property owners in the Township of Central Frontenac are facing significant property tax increases. 

Reasonable budgets, and fairness and equity with regard to taxes paid and to services provided, are necessary ingredients for maintaining public support for our governments. 

The SLPOA wants to work with the Municipal Government of Central Frontenac to inform all property owners on the tax regime, to ensure that the regime is well understood by everyone and that improvements are made where warranted.

The SLPOA has a number of questions to ask of All Candidates. 

We want to begin a learning process that will reassure people with very particular and personal concerns.  By working with elected Councillors and Mayor we also want to investigate whether improvements to the property tax regime are needed so that widespread support for our government will be maintained.

Fairness of Property Values

Property owners pay taxes based upon the value of their properties.

Q.1 :  Have you heard of any examples of where MPAC assessments of value yielded rather crazy results and, if so, what have you done about that?

Q.2 :  If the SLPOA can document a number of examples of where MPAC assessments have yielded questionable results, would you - if elected - be prepared to support a SLPOA challenge to MPAC's accountability for professionalism, fairness and equity?

Tax Rates

Whereas the tax rate applied by the County and for Education decreased for this year by about 10%, SLPOA calculates that the tax rate of the Municipality increased by more than 16%.

Q.3 :  Do you agree that the SLPOA's calculation is correct and, if so, do you think a 16% increase in tax rate - in addition to an increase in the value of many properties - is reasonable?

Municipal Budget

Municipal budget data, drawn from the Web and from various documents, appears inconsistent.

Q.4 :  Could you tell us what the approximate amount of the Municipal budget is for this year, and what it was last year?

Q.5 :  If elected, would you commit to working with the SLPOA to summarize what the budget is and what it consists of, and helping the Association to explain budget details to property owners?

Tax Regime Fundamentals

The newly elected Provincial government appears open to a review of the fundamentals of the property/municipal tax regime.  The SLPOA would want to work with the next Municipal Government to influence where this might go.

Q.6 :  What do you think is the key property tax issue to be put to the provincial government?  Is it the relative shares paid by farmers, commercial owners, and residents? Or, is it the basing of tax amounts on land values rather than on services provided? Or is it some other issue?