Letter: MPAC part of equation

Dear Editor,

Read your column of Nov. 21 and specifically the comments relating to MPAC and, yes, you are right about the impact it will have on many if not all municipal taxes.

The impact of MPAC re-assessments is the right thing to do making them market place reflective. Like the old wives’ tail about ‘if you finish your basement into a family room, don’t put a door on it so it won’t be considered as living space and thus increase your assessment’.

On the other hand I’m talking about the guy who is complaining down Chatham way where he bought a country lot, built a large family home on it, then the government allowed a wind turbine installation six kms away, with the connecting power grid installing a two meter diameter 30-m high tower on road allowance in front of his house. Go figure, he claims this house’s value just got cut in half. I tend to agree.

Municipal governments look at this re-assessment akin to winning the lottery, rubbing their hands claiming ‘it’s out of our control’, but it’s not.

Remember it’s a two-part equation. Municipal governments set and control the mill rate. Your house taxes are calculated by multiplying your assessment by that dreaded mill rate which as noted is set by your municipality.

When they proposed the concept of market value assessment, there was almost a mutiny which was quenched by the commitment of ‘making it as close to financially neutral as possible’.

So soon they forget, time to hold the municipal politicians accountable.

Robert Thom