THUNDER BAY -- The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation has hired its harshest critic.
Former Dryden Mayor Craig Nuttall will begin his new role as MPAC's paid advisor on Wednesday when the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association begins its Regional Fall Conference in Thunder Bay.
He will be employed in MPAC's new Municipal Stakeholders Department.
Nuttall has been publicly railing against the corporation's policies since early 2013 when MPAC failed to challenge a ruling that reassessed Domtar's $51-million Dryden Mill at $14 million.
Dryden had to pay Domtar back $5.4-million in taxes the company had paid the municipality since 2009.
The Assessment Review Board sided with Domtar's claims that declining markets for pulp and using less space on its property should be grounds for the mill's plummeting value.
Nuttall's administration withheld Dryden's payments to MPAC when the assessment corporation didn't dispute Domtar comparing the value of its Dryden Mill to its flagship mill in Marlboro, South Carolina.
Dryden is appealing the ARB decision on the grounds that MPAC misrepresented its interests.
Nuttall then became the spokesman for what was known as the Group of Seven, a team of critical Northern Ontario mayors whose municipalities had to pay their mills back taxes they had long-spent.
Those included a $1.7-million payment to Fort Frances' now-shuttered Resolute Craft Mill and Thunder Bay, whose administration has yet to disclose how much it will reimburse its Resolute Mill.
Both Nuttall and MPAC executives were unavailable for comment on Tuesday.
