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Home My WebLink AboutCS 23/00c,�o� in3 REPORT TO COUNCIL FROM: GiUis A. Paterson DATB: October 3, 2000 Director, Corporatc Services & Treasurcr REPORT NUME38R: CS 23-00 SUBJECT: Re-Assessment of Property for the 2001-2002 Tnxution Ycars RECOMMENDATION: It is recommendcd that Report CS 23-00 of the Director, Corporate Services & Treasurer be received by Council Cor information. ORIGIN: Director, Corpomtc Scrviccs & Treasurcr AUTHORITY: Municipal Acl, R.S.O. 1990, ns amendcd FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Not applicable EXECUTNE SUMMARY: Not applicable. BACKGROUND: In 1998, the Province of Ontario introduced the new Ontazio Fair Assessment Sysicm (OPAS). Property was now going to be assessed at "curtent vulue." Section ona of thc Assessment Act defines currcnt vnlue as "the amount of money the Cee simple, if unencumbcred, would rcnliu if sold nt arm's length by n willing seller to a willin� buycr." The purpose of the new assessment system wes to eliminate the hiatorical inconsistent measuro of property values acrou Ihe Province. Prior to 1998, each municipality within Dutham Region used e diffcrcnt asscssmcnl base ycar for detetmining their essessment. In fact, Durham Rcgion had onc of thc oldcst assessment bases in Ontario with thc asscssmcnt bnses in thc City of Oshawa nnd thc Tawn of Whitby dating back to the 1940's and 1950's. Pickering's assessment was last updated in 1988. � Report to Councit CS 23•00 Date: October 3, 2000 i�� Subject: RaAssessment of Proporty for tha 2001-2003 Taxation Ycars Pagc 2 The new assessment system provided ihe following benefits: • The entire Province will be on a common nssessment base for the purpose of property taxntion. Each property will hnve a curtent value assessment bnsed upon u"current value" af thc property in Junc 1996. • The current vulue assessment system will bc continunlly updated to reFlect changes in market values. Impact of First Provincial Re-Assessment The introduction oFthe first Provincial re-assessment cuused significant tax increases especially for those municipalitics thnt used an "old" assessment base such ns the City of Oshawa. To mitigate thc etTects of these "tax shocks" thc Region of Durham introduced u residenlinl phasc-in program for assessment rclnted increnses und decrenses. Undcr this program, property tax increases over thc $500 threshold wcre phased-in ovcr threc years. To pay for the phasing-in of thc tnx increases, tnx dccrcascs grcatcr than $432 wcre nlso phnsed-in over n three ycar period. Approximntely, 7,200 Pickcring residents had their tnx tlecrcases postponed to assist the othcr residcnts within Durham Region who wcrc facing tax incrcascs ovcr $500. In other words, $3.1 million tlowcd out of the Pickering cconomic basa to assist other residential tnxpayers within the Rcgion. However, capping Icgislntion (Iiill 79) for the mulli-residentinl, industrial and commercial rcalry tax clnss crcutcJ an oppositc cUcct for Pickcring rcgarding dollur tlows. for the Dill 79 realry clusses, Ihe City of Pickerins rcccived nn "in(low" of $1.6 million from thc Region. Second Provinciul Re-Assessment One of the benefits of lhe current valuc ussessmcnt systcm is lhe systcmntic updnting of property values throughout Ihe Province. Por the 1998, 1999 and 2000 taxation yenrs, property usscssment values as of June 30, 1996 werc used. Valucs ns af Junc 30, 1999 will bc used as thc bnsis for taxes in 200t and 2002. Therefore, the asscssment will be updatcd for the following yenr's tnxntion. Ttie Ontnrio Praperty Assessment Corporntion (OPAC) is responsible for property assessmcnt and is currcntly in the process of updating thc current vnluc nssessnients ucross the Province. 2000 Kcv Rc-Assessmcnt Datcs Mid Noqember Propertyassessment notices a;omailed nut to each owner. March 31, 2001 . Deadlina for property owners to.appeal to the ARB. ' � The requeet Por rccomideretion of essessrn�nt u an infomul prucesi whcrc Ihe property owner asks OPAC to rccaniidcr the aeseamitnt. OPAC ia currcntly dcveloping a communication strntagy for thc rcicase of lhc new property •asseasment values. Report to Council CS 23-00 Date: October 3, 2000 1 � 5 Subject: Re-Assessment of Property for thc 2001-2003 Taxntion Yeare Page 3 Future Re-Assessment The valuation date of lune 30, 1999, will be used for the assessmEnt roll data for ihe ycars 2001 and 2002. The Province is committed to upduting the assessment data on u rcgular basis. The timetable below outlines their current plan. Future Re-Assessment Timetable June 30, 1999 2001, 2002 June30,2003 2004 Average 2003 & 2004 2005 Three Year Rolling Average 2006 (2003,2004,2005) : Starting in 2006, municipal taxcs will bc based on a thrce ycar rolling nvcragc ofthe usscssment values of the preceding three years. Website A(ler the assessment noticcs arc mailcd lo thc inJividual property owners, thcre mny be u significant number of querics by Pickcring property owners. To assist our customedrutepayer, stuff of the Corporate Serviccs Departmcnt is working lowards having ihe 2000 nnd 2001 ossessment datn availuble on the City's website. Thc in1'ormation displaycd would be: uddress, old assessment nnd new asscssmcnt. The property owncr's name WOULD NOT bc displayed on thc website. Slaff bclicve that hnving this information on thc Ciry's website would be assisting our ratepnyers in revicwing their asscssmcnt, dctcrtnining accuracy anJ decidin� whether or not to ask for a reconsideration or appeal. It sliould be notcd, that historically, assessment data has alwnys bccn nvailable to the gcneral public by having the "nssessment roll baoks" available at the taxution front countcr. In 1999, slaff made the assessment roll information nvailable to the ratepnyers in a more friendly and convenicnt method by huving lhe duta stored on n"touch screen" micro computer located at the tnx counter. Ratepayers can now quickly and casily uccess all of the relevant ossessment data they may require. All these methods of viewing this infortnation will be availablc 2001 Tax Policv and Taxation Tools The current capping legislation (Bill 79) ends on December 31, 2000. Unfortunately, the Province has bcen silent as to whether this program will be extended or n new "genetic hybrid" will be created. In addition, the Province has not announccd what taxation tools will be available for the ycar 2001. The taxation tools cnn range from the selection of the optionnl tax classes such as oflice building and shopping center, chan�ing the tax ratios to dclegation of'taxntion poticy to thc lower tiers. StafC will prepare a briefing paper to mcmbers of Council aRer thc 2001 Assessment Roll data has becn received, reviewed and anal}zed. �� Report to Council CS 23•00 . Date: October 3, 2000 1 n 6 Subject: Re-Assesamcnt of Property for tha 2001-2003 Tnxation Yeara Page 4 Stnn Kanvowski Mnnager, Finance and Tuxation Recommendod for the considerntion of Pickering Ciry Council « � (/c �'� .. eed as J. inn, hicf A' istrat' c Ofticcr Approved / Endo:sed By: � /� /% � � Gillis A. Patcrson, Director, Corpomta Services & Treasurer