THUNDER BAY -- Leaders in Northwestern Ontario will have plenty of time over the next day to ask questions to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation but they might not like all of the answers.
MPAC has a large delegation at the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association's annual general meeting this week in Thunder Bay, including president and CAO Antoni Wisniowski.
The corporation's assessments have led to appeals that have cost the region millions of dollars in over the past few years, all leading to a strained relationship between Northwestern Ontario leaders and MPAC.
About 392 properties in the North are under appeal. And while municipalities were hit by reductions, last year Northwestern Ontario still saw a $169 million net growth in assessment, even after appeal decisions were made.
"Those are all new revenues available to you," Wisniowski told the room at Victoria Inn.
He added that it was important to come to Thunder Bay and meet the leaders face-to-face in order to explain that things are getting better.
More consultation, explaining how decisions are made and letting a municipality know when a property is being assessed or when that decision is being appealed should help in the future.
"We can't really repair the history to date but as we go forward the idea is as the values go on they're more stable and therefore everything should work better from a taxation perspective," he said.
But the main sticking point, called functional or external obsolescence, is staying put.
Special properties, such as a pulp and paper mill, are being assessed based on production or sometimes whether parts of the property are still being used for an operation.
"That is the same as the international standard," Wisniowski said.
NOMA president Dave Canfield said if it's here to stay, there needs to be some changes. A good year for a business should then mean a good year for municipal revenue.
"If they want us to share in part of their loss then we should be sharing in part of their profit," he said.
Thunder Bay city manager Tim Commisso points to local grain elevators as an example. Last year set records for the amount of tonnage moving through the port yet those elevators still had a reduced assessment.
"We don't like the fact that it's still there," he said.
Commisso also wants to see a change to the appeal process so that a company can't just hire lawyers and accountants on commission to fight an assessment once it's complete.
"That's not the way it should be," he said. "That's not the way it's done with the Planning Act and it's not the way it should be done with assessment."
Canfield and Commisso want to work with MPAC to speak with the Ministry of Finance to get a better system in place.
