Taxes are rising due to higher Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) assessments and Bradford politicians asked county council this week for help to deal with the fallout.
The request ignited a spirited debate over the responsibilities of municipalities, their relation to county council, and teamwork versus individual gain.
Bradford West Gwillimbury (BWG) council decided to hire StrategyCorp last year after growing concern in the municipality about how much it was paying compared to other municipalities in the county and the services it receives. The company reported back to town council in June.
The motion up for consideration at county council on Tuesday included two primary requests: for county staff to engage the county’s municipal tax experts to provide an assessment of the StrategyCorp report, and for staff to investigate further ways to broaden local awareness of county programs and services.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Rob Keffer explained why the town requested the study in the first place.
“This study was initiated because of the MPAC assessment that happened in 2016. It was unprecedented at that time. Home prices in BWG have increased more (as a result) than any other municipality in Simcoe County, and the reason is because of our proximity to the GTA (Greater Toronto Area),” he said.
“Municipalities don’t know if this could happen to them. They really don’t.”
Keffer issued a plea for county councillors to consider the motion.
“We’ve got 16 member municipalities. There’s always going to be some friction,” he said. “If there are recommendations that can be worked out ahead of time, ways to smooth out the highs and lows, I will urge members to support this recommendation to move forward. It will be a worthy exercise.”
A few county councillors bristled at the suggestions.
Oro-Medonte Township Deputy Mayor Ralph Hough expressed his concerns immediately.
“I’m really not in favour of this. I’m not sure what it’s going to prove. We all pay the same tax rate,” said Hough. “It’s not our problem that BWG had a higher assessment rate than anybody else. I don’t know how you’re going to change that unless you really start breaking it down... I don’t, personally, see a better system.”
“It might not seem fair to them at the moment, but that’s not our problem, that’s MPAC,” said Hough.
Hough also pointed to the second part of the request, and wondered why the mayor and deputy mayor weren’t reporting back to their constituents themselves on county strides.
“I don’t see why the second part is there... to spend taxpayers money to further the county’s services,” he said. “There’s enough PR, there’s newsletters, releases and there’s two members from BWG sitting on this council, so if they can’t tell their taxpayers what they get for their tax dollars, I don’t know what else we can do.”
“This is something that many of us have been dealing with internally,” said Innisfil Deputy Mayor Lynn Dollin.
“In a municipality like mine, where I have lots of shoreline and people (living) on the shoreline whose taxes are going through the roof because of MPAC assessments on their property versus someone in a subdivision... I’m getting that argument all the time.”
“We need to be going after the root cause,” Dollin concluded. “If we have an issue with the way MPAC is doing their assessment, we should be talking to MPAC about this, and not trying to react to what MPAC does.”
Severn Township Deputy Mayor Judith Cox expressed concern with parts of the recommendation as well.
“I understand BWG’s plight. But there are parts of this recommendation that I don’t agree with,” she said.
“I don’t agree that the county should have to be sending out your report. That’s your report. If you want other municipalities to see your report, you should be sending it out to other municipalities,” said Cox. “Whenever we have a report in Severn Township, we send it out to the other municipalities.”
Cox then referred to the part of the recommendation that staff investigate further ways to broaden local awareness of county programs and services.
“I found that very odd,” said Cox. “I think that the county does a great job of communicating what they do.”
“I don’t believe, for one minute, that you get any less than anybody else. I saw the report,” she said. “When you start complaining, you start to irritate people. You might want a reminder that we’re in here as a team and we’re all team players. There are people here who have had those increases, who say they haven’t got enough from the county.”
“I believe that we should work as a team and it should come through a strategic plan.”
Springwater Township Mayor Bill French tried to mediate the rising tensions in the room.
“Now we’re isolating BWG because they brought up a question and I don’t think that’s appropriate. I think it makes sense to have clarity,” said French, stating his intention to vote for the motion.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Deputy Mayor James Leduc advocated for the ability to ask questions and look forward.
“It’s our responsibility to ask these tough questions. We, as a group, need to start looking ahead. Whether it’s MPAC’s problem or not, we, at this level, have an opportunity to come up with a solution,” he said.
“As Toronto homes sell, people are going to come north and drive up the costs. MPAC will reassess in 2020. Be prepared. We need to find solutions and strategies to work together.”
“It is a team effort here. Don’t pick on one team player because we actually did a study. That was a good exercise... it woke everybody up,” said Leduc. “We felt the pain. We feel it now. We don’t want the same thing to happen to everybody else.”
According to Tuesday’s report from county staff, they were given the initial report prepared by StrategyCorp and were offered the opportunity to provide feedback, which they did, however no substantive changes were seen in the final version of the report shown to BWG council.
County staff also noted "areas of concern" in the StrategyCorp report, including "missing" levy figures, the listings of services missing some key departments, overstating revenue and characterizing the Municipal Services Agreement between the county and the cites of Barrie and Orillia as "not transparent."
“It should be made clear that the County of Simcoe follows the taxation regulations set out under the Municipal Act so that every $100,000 of property value within a given property class is taxed exactly the same across the county,” reads the report. “This is consistent with all Ontario municipalities, including Bradford who charges their residents taxation based on assessment.”
“Bradford is growing both in terms of new assessment and increased assessment, creating a perception of unfairness due to tax ratio shifts towards the municipality due to their significant growth.”
BWG has contributed $114 million in tax funds to Simcoe County and collected $25 million in development charges on the county’s behalf between 2007 to 2017, according to the resolution passed by Bradford council last year to approve the review.
Among its findings, StrategyCorp noted the 2016 MPAC reassessment “affected BWG to the greatest extent among (Simcoe County) municipalities,” with a 5% increase.
The original motion was defeated. A new motion to just receive the report was carried.
For the full story on StrategyCorp’s original presentation to Bradford West Gwillimbury council back in July, click here.
- with files from Jenni Dunning
