By Craig Bakay Gazette Staff - Frontenac Gazette - September 30, 2003

MPAC addresses council's assessment concerns

There are anomalies in the assessed value of individual properties. but the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation is working on it, senior manager Martin Kapitan said last week at Central Frontenac council in Sharbot Lake.

“If they are brought to our attention, we will review it,” he said.

Kapitan, and two other representatives of MPAC, the organization that puts a value on Ontario properties for taxation purposes, were at council to address some of the concerns raised by local rate- payers.

The amount of property taxes an owner pays are determined by two factors — the tax rate set by council and the market value of their property as set by MPAC.

“We raised taxes only 2 to 3 per cent and some people’s tax bills went up by $2,000 to $3,000,” said Mayor Bill MacDonald. “I’ve had hundreds of phone calls and some people’s assessments have gone up $50,000 to $60,000.

“We (council and MPAC) have to communicate better as groups.”

MPAC municipal relations representative Bev Disney said MPAC assessed 4.2 million properties in Ontario in more than 400 municipalities at an overall value of about $1 trillion. They are an independent body, not a Crown agency nor a part of the provincial government, she said.

The value of a property is based on current value assessment, or the price from “a willing seller to willing buyer.”

Kapitan acknowledged the process isn’t perfect and pointed there is an appeal process in place.

“There are a couple of data elements not present but we are in the process of rectifying that,” Kapitan said. “We do have an appeal process and people can call 1-866-296-6722 (MPAC).”

Appeal fees are $50 for residential and farms and $125 for commercial, industrial and multi-residence.

Coun. Bob Harvey suggested the appeal process was “imperfect” and “intimidating’ to some people, especially seniors.
“(But), when I ask people ‘would you take what your property is assessed at?’ most would,” he said.

Kapitan said many of MPAC’s assessments are based on what comparable properties have sold for.
Coun. Marsden Kirk questioned how they would do that in rural communities.

“Are sales really comparable in small communities?” Kirk asked. “It seems to me there’s something not quite kosher in Denmark.”

Kapitan conceded that coming up with a value in rural communities is often more difficult than large areas of urban sprawl.

“In the GTA, you have subdivisions of cookie-cutter houses and its a lot easier because sales are taking place all the time,” he said. “In the smaller centres, you sometimes have to find compatible sales by expanding the area you look at.”

MacDonald urged the MPAC representatives to keep refining their techniques.

“We have people retiring here who have sold their homes in Toronto for half a million dollars,” MacDonald said. “These people are more capable of paying higher prices than local people and create a spike in prices.

“(But) if that raises the value of homes around them, (the increased tax burden) can lead family members into forced sales and bankruptcy sales.

“I hope our people can hang on to their properties.”