GUELPH – Wellington County officials recently met with staff from the Ministry of Finance to discuss taxation of the aggregate resources industry.
Warden Kelly Linton, along with CAO Scott Wilson, treasurer Ken DeHart and the county’s government relations firm met with finance officials on March 26.
“We talked about the importance to the county and our member municipalities of our aggregate companies paying their fair share of taxes,” Linton told county councillors at the March 28 meeting.
“This is really critical for us, especially when we have some single-family properties that are paying more in property taxes than the gravel pits are. That doesn’t make too much sense to us and we made sure that the ministry would recognize that.”
Linton added, “A few months ago they had promised some working groups to work though and rectify this situation and so we wanted to make sure they knew, from us, that we thought that was a good approach and we want to be at the table.
“We’ll keep county council informed on any progress on it and there will be lots more updates.”
In 2016,the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation and the Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association came to an agreement to settle “legacy appeals” from the 2009 to 2016 taxation years.
The previous assessment method valued active areas of aggregate operations at industrial land rates on a per-acre basis, putting most county pits at between $40,000 and $50,000 per acre depending on the size of the pit.
Other areas of the site were taxed based on the use of the land (farm or residential).
The new method of assessment values active areas of aggregate operations at class 5 farmland rates, plus site preparation costs, to a maximum of $15,000 per acre province-wide.
This means most county pits in Wellington are now valued at less than $10,000 per acre, he said.
That results in substantial taxation losses to municipalities in the county.
