Resolution to assure high quality property assessment

Whereas the property tax is a vital part of municipal funding, and all municipalities and ratepayers depend on accurate assessments;

And whereas the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) has ignored the wishes of over 100 municipalities and is implementing a corporate restructuring program, called “Futures,” that is dramatically changing property assessment in this province;

And whereas MPAC has already cut its front-line staff from over 2,100 to 1,350 and will further reduce them to 1,100 once Futures is fully implemented, with job losses in every region of Ontario;

And whereas this has shattered workplace morale and disrupted families;

And whereas municipalities are already noticing a loss of local expertise and a decrease in service quality as a result of this centralization plan;

And whereas Futures is reducing the number of people who collect hard data on property values by 75 per cent and replacing hard data with a computer program;

And whereas MPAC assessors have been ordered not to speak directly with municipal officials;

And whereas MPAC is now required to reassess every Ontario property annually, instead of every four years;

And whereas a plan to do four times the work with just over half the people will not work;

Therefore Be It Resolved that

the ___________________ of _____________________

hereby calls on the Ontario Minister of Finance to intervene to repair the damage Futures has done to Ontario property assessment and to bring forward a plan to restore local assessment expertise and good working relationships between assessment staff and municipalities at the local level.

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