MINDEMOYA—A date has been set for Central Manitoulin council to meet with Municipal Property Assessment the Corporation (MPAC) officials to discuss the significant increase in assessments residents in the municipality and throughout Manitoulin Island are facing and the concerns that have resulted with this. And one councillor is urging everyone in the community to appeal their assessments.
At a meeting last week, council was informed that a meeting has been set for November 22 with MPAC representatives. A request for a full public meeting with MPAC will be set for a future date.
“I would like everyone to know that our municipal mill rate and the MPAC assessment are two separate things,” said Reeve Gerry Strong at a council meeting last week. “The assessments come through MPAC, while for our budget we set our mill rates based on how much we need financially to run our municipality.”
“How will this affect our mill rate and budget?” asked Councillor Patricia MacDonald. “If everyone plans to appeal their assessment, when we are planning our budget if we don’t have the results of these appeals it could affect our budget setting process.”
Councillor Derek Stephens said his property was appraised at $60,000, however with the newest MPAC assessments, this property has now been assessed at $115,000.
“I’m not on the lakeshore, but wow, my assessment went up a lot as well,” said Councillor Bev Cannard-Pearson. “I should have appealed this the last time MPAC did its reassessments.”
“I would like to ask everyone in the municipality, and think they should, to appeal their assessment,” said Mr. Stephens.
While council is meeting with MPAC on November 22, members of the public can attend and listen to discussion between the two parties.
