The next round of property assessment value notices are about to be delivered to Ontario farmers, and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is concerned these values will ontinue to soar.
Municipalities use these values as part of the formula for determining property taxes, and in recent years farmers have been hit hard by rising property taxes.
The October meeting of the OFA’s Board of Directors heard a presentation from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation – MPAC – and as part of that presentation we were told the average assessment value increase for farm properties in Ontario since the last valuation was 12 per cent.
We have heard from individual farmers complaining of increases in the range of 30 per cent, and they want to know why. In theory, farm assessment values are to be based, in part, on the selling prices of neighbouring farm properties in farmer to farmer sales.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture wants this approach updated. We are calling on the provincial government to institute assessment of farm properties for tax purposes based on the productive value of the land. OFA also believes that ‘people services’ should be removed from the property tax base.
Ontario farmers, when they receive their property assessment notices this month, should examine the values closely, and if they disagree with the values they should file a ‘request for reconsideration’ to the MPAC office immediately.
When farmers aren’t satisfied with the results of the reconsideration process, they have until March 31, 2004, to appeal their farm property assessment and / or the tax classification. OFA is calling on the government to extend that deadline to give farmers more time to file an appeal with assessment and tax officials.
The MPAC office isn’t the only place farmers can go for relief with their property tax issues. Municipal councils have a wide range of authority to make adjustments to tax figures. They set property tax rates, based on assessment values provided by MPAC, but the rates for each property classification, established by municipal bylaw, is at the discretion of the local council.
Municipal councils also have authority to exempt farm lands from taxation for certain expenditures, and can pass bylaws to relieve taxes considered unduly burdensome. Recent changes to the Farmland Property Taxation Program permit municipalities to set the rate below 25 per cent of the residential tax rate.
The municipal council can also pass a bylaw declaring farm lands exempt or partly exempt from taxation for municipal expenditures incurred for waterworks, fire protection, garbage collection, sidewalks, pavements, sewers or street lighting and similar services that farmers use only rarely. There is also the option of passing a bylaw to cancel, reduce or refund taxes levied by the council for municipal and school purposes.
It is up to taxpayers to apply to the municipality for such relief measures.
By employing any of these discretionary options, a municipal council can provide significant relief to farmers who find their property tax bill unbearable, for whatever reason. This year has been particularly difficult for livestock producers with lost markets and lost values. It may be appropriate for farmers to consider requesting some of these measures to reduce their property taxes.
~Ron Bonnett~
President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture