{"id":11895,"date":"2014-10-08T15:40:13","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T19:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=11895"},"modified":"2014-10-08T15:40:13","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T19:40:13","slug":"clarifying-municipal-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/clarifying-municipal-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarifying Municipal Taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_11895\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"11895\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p><a title=\"Cartoons\" href=\"http:\/\/imgarcade.com\/1\/property-taxes-cartoon\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/edocs.lib.sfu.ca\/projects\/Cartoons\/fullsize\/2-1998-10-26.gif\" alt=\"Cartoon\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a><strong>Some\u00a0candidates seem\u00a0confused about municipal taxes this election.<\/strong> I thought I&#8217;d clear up a few facts about property\u00a0taxes\u00a0for your (and their) benefit.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Taxes explained\" href=\"http:\/\/www.collingwood.ca\/files\/photos\/DEPARTMENTS\/Treasury\/2014%20Tax%20bill%20insert%20brochure.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Property taxes<\/a> are made up of three components: the municipal portion (roughly 60%), the county portion (24%) and the education portion (16%). The rate (also called the mill rate) for each portion is set independently by its own body (the province sets the education levy).<\/p>\n<p>The total rate is called the blended rate. The town&#8217;s portion is the town-own rate. Usually the blended rate is used because that reflects best what homeowners see.\u00a0The rate depends on the type of property you own: residential, commercial, industrial all have different rates. Single-family and multi-residential are also different.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at how taxes were\u00a0calculated\u00a0in 2014 for a single-family house valued at $200,000:<\/p>\n<p>Total taxes payable will be $2,526.31, broken down as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Education levy $406.00<\/li>\n<li>County levy $608.00<\/li>\n<li>Town levy $1,512.32<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The value of your home &#8211; of every home in Ontario &#8211; is set by <a title=\"MPAC\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mpac.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">MPAC<\/a>, the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. This is an independent provincial agency headquartered in Pickering. It sets the value of your home through a computer model that looks at the value of properties around you and at real estate sales in your neighbourhood.<\/p>\n<p>This model means your home value can increase whether you do anything to it or not.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>MPAC&#8217;s assessment is not done by people looking at your home, going door-to-door, seeing if you made improvements or whether your neighbourhood has improved. It&#8217;s done in an office on a computer. The municipality can&#8217;t affect how MPAC assesses your home nor the amount assessed. You can, however, <a title=\"Challenge MPAC in Ottawa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.obj.ca\/Opinion\/The-Marketplace\/2010-02-10\/article-654602\/And-in-this-corner%3A-The-MPAC-challenger\/1\" target=\"_blank\">challenge MPAC<\/a> if you think your assessment is too high.<\/p>\n<p>Check the MPAC website and Google for details on how to do this.<\/p>\n<p>MPAC&#8217;s values are always a few years behind the current year and follow a four-year cycle. For this term of council, 2008 assessment values were used for calculating taxes in the years 2010 to 2012. The value used to calculate your 2013 and 2014 property tax was based on the 2012 assessment. That value will also be used for 2015 and 2016 (with a phased-in portion of one-quarter the total each year).<\/p>\n<p>This lag also means that if we enter a recession or property values fall, it may not be reflected in your tax bill right away (or ever if the event is a short duration).<\/p>\n<p>It also means that in 2013, your house value for tax purposes changed. It jumped its assessment value by four years to the rates computed for 2012.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"MPAC\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mpac.ca\/property_owners\/default.asp\" target=\"_blank\">MPAC explains it<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In the fall of 2012, MPAC mailed a Property Assessment Notice to every property owner in Ontario. The 2012 Notices provided the classification and updated assessed value for property in Ontario based on a legislated valuation date of January 1, 2012.<\/p>\n<p>The last province-wide Assessment Update took place in 2008. In each non-assessment update year, we prepare approximately one million Property Assessment Notices for owners of new properties or properties where a change has taken place.<\/p>\n<p>To provide an additional level of property tax stability and predictability, market increases in assessed value between the January 1, 2008 and January 1, 2012 legislated valuation dates will be phased in over four years (2013-2016). The phased-in values for your property are indicated on your Property Assessment Notice. The phase-in program does not apply to decreases in assessed value, which are applied immediately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What this also means is that even if the tax rates do not rise, what you pay is likely to go up when the assessment changes. If your house was assessed at $200,000 in the 2008 MPAC list, and the assessment increased two per cent per year, it was assessed at more than\u00a0$216,000 for the\u00a02012 figures.<\/p>\n<p>The increase is phased in each year, so it doesn&#8217;t jump all at once. For example a simple two per cent per year increase:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Value in 2008:\u00a0$200,000<\/li>\n<li>2009:\u00a0$204,000<\/li>\n<li>2010:\u00a0$208,080<\/li>\n<li>2011:\u00a0$212,241<\/li>\n<li>2012:\u00a0$216,486.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can see how it goes up. So even if the tax <em>rates<\/em> don&#8217;t change, the amount you pay in year four will be 8% higher than you paid when the starting amount was used: $2,734.55. MPAC&#8217;s own example shows a much higher increase than a mere 2% per year: it shows an assessment value of $220,000 going up by $30,000 in four years: a 13.6% increase in four years!<\/p>\n<p>MPAC used\u00a0a revised\u00a0algorithm to calculate the value in 2012. That meant the assessed value of your\u00a0home might have gone\u00a0up even more than the previous phased-in values.<\/p>\n<p>So you can see how taxes can go up without the tax rates increasing.<\/p>\n<p>This council kept the blended tax rate to an average 0.45% per year this term &#8211; or about 1.6% per year for the town-own rate. Even in the years where we had no or negative changes in the town-own rate, the amount you paid in taxes may have increased due to MPAC&#8217;s assessment increase.<\/p>\n<p>Finally: taxes pay for municipal services. Taxes pay for plowing and sanding roads in winter, and cleaning them the rest of the year. They pay for having police and fire to keep our homes and streets safe, for keeping the ball diamonds, the rinks and the pool running. They pay for parks, for replanting trees, for building sidewalks, for garbage pickup, for catching stray dogs, for collecting money from parking meters, for inspecting construction sites, for working with developers and builders. They pay for\u00a0replacing burnt out street lamps, for maintaining property standards, for running your library and paving the streets.<\/p>\n<p>We can &#8211; and have &#8211; cut costs and reduced duplication and inefficiencies to make the town run more smoothly for less money. We have a good, lean town staff and very little waste in our organization.<\/p>\n<p>Every council has to decide during the budget process whether\u00a0maintaining a service is worth the cost to taxpayers. But ask yourself: would you be willing to go without soccer pitches to save taxes? Go without a year-round rink or swimming pool? Would you be willing to clear your own sidewalks instead of having the town do it to save a few dollars on your tax bill? Would you be willing to pay more home insurance to have fewer firefighters or police? Would you be happy if we closed or stopped maintaining trails to save money? Or closed the dog parks? Would you be willing to take your own garbage to the dump instead of having it picked up? (the county does waste management)<\/p>\n<p>Would you be willing to pay a fee (or a higher fee than already charged) to park? To use the trails? To swim or skate? For a dog licence? Or a building permit? Raising user fees simply shifts the costs, doesn&#8217;t really make you pay less in the end.<\/p>\n<p>Councils and staff also have to deal with increased\u00a0costs for staff, for union contracts, for benefits, for energy, for gas, for vehicles, for software, for infrastructure, for equipment, for legal fees, for sand and gravel, for salt&#8230; costs rise for everything we use and everyone we employ. These have to be managed during the budget debate (which is why you don&#8217;t want an inexperienced person as the finance chair!).<\/p>\n<p>What would you give up to save a few dollars on your tax bill? That&#8217;s a difficult question. We can save money, shave a few dollars off your tax bill if we cut services. But which services? In every community there are some people who don&#8217;t use some of them, and others who use those same services regularly.<\/p>\n<p>People live here because of our great quality of life. They love our trails, our parks, our library, our pool and our downtown. Anything we cut will affect that quality of life and make Collingwood less appealling, less people-oriented. Very few residents\u00a0want to lose the services and amenities they have now.<\/p>\n<p>During election time, it&#8217;s always easy to criticize incumbents, and for newcomers to make grandiose promises about how they\u00a0will make everything better, lower taxes and still get things built. But when it comes to budget time, the reality sinks in. You can&#8217;t build those big, expensive facilities without raising taxes. You can&#8217;t cut taxes without affecting services.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It isn&#8217;t as easy as the speeches and the brochures make it look.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_11895\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"11895\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p>Some\u00a0candidates seem\u00a0confused about municipal taxes this election. I thought I&#8217;d clear up a few facts about property\u00a0taxes\u00a0for your (and their) benefit. Property taxes are made up of three components: the municipal portion (roughly 60%), the county portion (24%) and the education portion (16%). The rate (also called the mill rate) for each portion is set independently by its own body (the province sets the education levy). The total rate is called the blended rate. The town&#8217;s portion is the town-own rate. Usually the blended rate is used because that reflects best what homeowners see.\u00a0The rate depends on the type of \u2026&#8230;&#8230; click below for more \u2193<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,10,425],"tags":[618,140,39,192],"class_list":["post-11895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collingwood","category-municipal-politics","category-planning","tag-collingwood","tag-council","tag-municipal-politics-2","tag-taxes"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":6992,"today_views":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11895"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11911,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11895\/revisions\/11911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}