County councillors learned on June 25 some property classes are benefitting by tax capping to the tune of $8.2-million – while other landowners in Wellington are making up that loss.
The issue stems from the abolition of the Farm Tax Rebate program in 1998, where Ontario municipalities were forced to allow a 75% reduction in property taxes for all farm properties.
Treasurer Craig Dyer also said in his report that in addition, under the Conservation Land Tax Incentive program, property that meets the criteria to be considered conservation land is returned on the assessment roll as exempt from taxes.
“In total, these three programs represent a loss of millions of dollars in tax revenue that are funded by other property owners within the municipality,” Dyer’s report stated.
He added the provincial government originally compensated municipalities for that property tax loss through the Community Reinvestment Fund, which has now been replaced with the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund.
But, he added, “While the OMPF provides some support, the fact remains that the property taxpayers ultimately fund the cost of these provincial programs.”
Dyer showed there are 668 rural single family dwellings with an exempt current value assessment of $76.35-million; another 721 farmlands and mixed use properties with an exemption of $27.19-million in assessment, and 134 vacant residential lands with an exempt assessment of $13.29-million.
As well, The Grand River Conservation Authority has 74 properties that are exempt to the tune of $14.42-million, and 26 primary commercial and industrial properties are exempt to a value of $2.36-million.
The total amount of reduced property assessments is $133.63-million, and Dyer noted another 720 properties will qualify in the future, for another $55.25-million in lost assessment.
That brings the total to $188.88-million in lost tax assessment, worth $8.2-million in property taxes to Wellington County – and made up by other property owners.
Dyer noted the county is still waiting for some information from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), and he will provide a further report in September.
Councillor Rod Finnie said the issue is becoming a serious one. “We are losing $8-million in taxes at the upper level,” he said. “The burden is being placed on other taxpayers.”
Finnie noted that credits from the province are declining, and, “Other taxpayers must take up the slack – and I think it’s wrong.”
Wellington is not the only upper tier municipality to feel that pinch. Council supported a resolution by Oxford County council that asked the province provide upper tier municipalities “the authorization to effectively eliminate capping in any or all of the protected property classes as they may determine.”
That resolution was supported, and Oxford asked that it be sent to provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.
