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Published - Oct 29th, 2009
By By Karen Idzik
The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) has not caught up on farm exemptions and other assessments, according to John Jeffery, Treasurer for Wellington North. And council is considering a resolution asking that the corporation be disbanded.
Jeffery said Monday there were promises from MPAC that the farm valuations would be done shortly. That was quite a while ago, he said, and now some of the properties might not be processed before the final tax bills.
He added there are 18 applications that have not be processed because of demolition of buildings, and they probably won’t be done this year either.
“They are backlogged,” Jeffery said, adding they are not responding quickly to the issues.
He said that some assessments are taking quite a while, some up to two to three years.
Jeffrey said, on the farm issue, Perth made a resolution asking the province to deal with assessments, as they’re dealing with similar problems.
He added the farm tax rebates are artificially low, because they assume 25% farmland, and the municipality could face a significant reduction in taxes collected.
Wellington North Mayor Mike Broomhead pointed out that MPAC has promised to “clean up their act”, and they are improving, but the politicians feel like they are spinning their wheels.
“We have to account for this not getting done,” Broomhead said. “We’ve tried. When is MPAC going to be held responsible?”
Broomhead asked at what point does the municipality say, “enough is enough?”
Jeffrey said the province created MPAC in 1998, and at one point MPAC said they didn’t have enough staff, and maybe they need to push back to get more help.
He added he has to give MPAC staff credit, they come to the meetings requested by municipalities.
“They’re the only real avenue we’ve got for some of the issues,” Jeffrey said.
Broomhead said, “I turn to the press.” He said he felt they were getting frustrated with the MPAC issue. “It’s not just a council thing.”
Councillor John Matusinec asked if it would help to speak with John Wilkinson.
Jeffery said there is already a meeting scheduled with him to discuss the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, which deals with the farm grants.
Councillor Dan Yake said the MPAC issue has been frustrating for Jeffrey and his staff. He said MPAC assessments have been an ongoing discussion since most of council has been there.
“You said they come to the meetings and you’re polite – maybe you need to be more vocal,” Yake said.
He suggested Council put together a resolution asking that MPAC be disbanded.
“I think we’d gather a lot of support province-wide,” Yake said.
“Time to pull out the soap box,” Broomhead added.
Yake said councils have been too nice to MPAC. He added that Jeffery spends a lot of time calling them and gets the run around.
Broomhead asked that a resolution be put together for the next meeting.
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