City will pay back millions following Resolute reassessment appeal

THUNDER BAY -- The city will be paying back millions of dollars as city council decided to accept a recent decision by the Assessment Review Board.

City council decided Monday night in closed session to give up its fight over Resolute Forest Product's property assessment appeal on its Thunder Bay mill. The company appealed its $72 million for 2009 to 2012, which the ARB decided recently to be $32.6 million.

Council went over its options Monday, deciding instead to refund millions of dollars, the specific amount is not being made public. The province will also have to refund part of the company's education tax as well.

"We will fund our component of the refund through the assessment appeals reserve fund," city manager Tim Commisso said.
"That doesn't have a direct impact on taxes on a go forward basis."

While the decision doesn't tap that reserve fund completely, the city will have to replenish over the next couple of years, which could impact capital spending. In general, an eroding tax base makes it difficult to keep up with infrastructure spending.

"Quite frankly that's at risk, our ability to continue to increase putting more money into infrastructure renewal," he said.

Commisso said Resolute is a good corporate citizen and the issue is about the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, which the city pays $1.3 million every year, and how easy it is for companies to appeal their assessments to the ARB. 

"This in our mind is about the ability to have a stable tax base," Commisso said.

The city will bring its assessment issues to the province again this year at next month's Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Niagara Falls.