The District of Kenora Unincorporated
Ratepayers Association
P.o. Box 79
Red Lake,
Ontario
P0V 2M0
September 17, 2006
The Honourable
M7A 1A4
Dear Premier McGuinty:
This letter is rather lengthy and
addresses a number of issues that are being discussed in the Unincorporated
areas in the northern portion of the province. While we know letters that are shorter usually get read, we hope that
you will take the time to completely read this one.
With the announcement of your government’s intention to introduce Provincial Land Tax Reform, our Association wants some questions answered on a number of issues that this legislation will affect.
These issues include, but are not limited to, municipal policing cost; municipal forest fire suppression cost; separate school board funding; education tax collection and reassessment of properties by MPAC.
From the information our Association has gathered to date, these are the most distressing issues that face our members.
Many questions need to be asked but the ones we pose in this letter may help explain some of the issues more clearly to our membership.
Municipal Policing Costs
While we understand many municipalities have their own police force, we know that in the north of the province the Ontario Provincial Police is the law enforcement body for many municipalities as well as the Unincorporated areas.
We also understand that the rates charged by the Ontario Provincial Police for their services vary from municipality to municipality, from reasonably affordable to budget breaking.
Our Association is requesting a list of what each municipality in the north is paying for O.P.P. service. We understand that this is done on a contract basis and when the municipalities figure out their costs they provide the taxpayers of the municipality a price on a per household cost. Our Association would like an idea of what the province is considering to be an appropriate cost per household for the delivery of O.P.P. service to the Unincorporated areas of the north. We recognize that each area is unique in geographical challenges, and the number of detachments and officers that are needed to patrol each district. We are looking for a “ballpark” figure of anticipated costs per district.
This cost to be passed on to the Unincorporated taxpayer was reported in several press articles that we have seen. It was to be included in the services provided by the province and paid for through the PLT reform money.
Obviously if municipalities do not contribute to these costs then it would be highly discriminatory for the province to ask the Unincorporated ratepayer to pay for services that are provided free to the municipal ratepayer.
Our Association is asking for a complete list of moneys paid by each
municipality toward their portion of the forest fire suppression costs.
At a conference held in Dryden this week the PLT reform was being discussed by several Unincorporated area representatives from across the province when the talk went around to the iPLT (the additional PLT that is collected by school boards across the province to pay for locally delivered provincial services).
One delegate from the north east section of the province stated that he didn’t pay any iPLT to his school board, in fact when questioned on this, he was very adamant on this issue.
Needless to say, our Association representatives were stunned. We were under the belief that all unincorporated ratepayers within school board boundaries were being billed the iPLT.
Another representative from the north east area stated that if the Unincorporated ratepayer was a separate school board supporter and since the separate school boards were under-funded at the time of the introduction of the iPLT, then all the “education taxes” were left to go to the separate school board and the iPLT was not instituted on the separate school board supporters tax bill.
Mr. Premier, if this is the case then, please set us straight because we have to know if everyone in the Unincorporated area is being treated fairly and equitably or are we being victims of religious discrimination.
Mr. Premier, our questions for this topic are:
1)
Do the
separate school supporters pay the iPLT on their school bill?
2)
The Ministry
of Finance handout that was circulated in 2004 states “iPLT is billed and collected
by the levying school boards in the unincorporated territory and is remitted to
the Ministry of Finance”. It also states “designated school boards bill and
collect education taxes and the iPLT”. Will you provide our Association a list
of ALL school boards that collect the iPLT?
3)
Is this iPLT
based on Current Value Assessment?
4)
If Current
Value Assessment is used, what year of values is used?
Education Tax
Collection
When the province began downloading
of services, our President, Bill Blower, attended a meeting hosted by the
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines in
The municipalities would have to use the money they normally collected for the education tax and use it to pay for the newly downloaded services they received from the province.
Mr. Premier, are we correct in this understanding of the downloading
costs?
If we are not correct with this train of understanding the process
could you please explain what amount of board of education tax is collected by
the municipalities?
Re-assessment of Properties
Mr. Premier, we have received conflicting reports on this subject.
When the Ministry of Finance did
their consultation tour in 2004 we were told that ALL properties in
Now we are reading reports in the local newspapers that Unincorporated properties have never been reassessed for the Current Value Assessment and the amount shown on our board of education tax bill is the old (1941) value PLT multiplied by some formula to bring our tax bill close to what it was prior to downloading.
We were told the properties outside the school board boundaries were reassessed and because there was no legislation that allowed these properties to be included in the education tax roll and the Area Service Board Act wasn’t legislated, they were locked away in the regional or district assessment office, never to see the light of day.
We have also been told that in truth, due to the high cost of actually visiting the properties that are remote, only about 10% of the properties have actually been reassessed.
Frankly, we don’t know what or who to believe!!!
Mr Premier, if the PLT reform is to be introduced and done in a fair and equitable manner for the Unincorporated areas, then MPAC MUST make the effort and visit each and every property on the Provincial Land Tax role. However; we all know that if the property is remote, there will always be the excuse of the cost doesn’t justify the trip. This would be a blatant dereliction of duty because in our Kenora District many of those remote fly-in properties hold multi-million dollar fishing lodges or private cabins worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. These properties are currently paying the minimum in the PLT and zero for the iPLT.
Our Association supports the
There has been a lot of incorrect and misleading reporting happening in our district newspapers and a lot of municipal leaders speaking out on what they plan to do with the money their municipalities will do with the PLT money they will be receiving.
This has to be corrected!!!!
Your government must step forward and set the facts straight!
Answering our questions will assist our Association in the effort to calm the fears of our membership of a huge provincial tax grab.
Mr. Premier, please, our Association wants answers, not a “thanks for writing” letter.
On behalf of the 35,000 Unincorporated permanent and seasonal ratepayers of the Kenora District and the upwards of 250,000 Unincorporated ratepayers in the north, we hope you will use some of your provincial employees to look for the answers we seek.
Thank you for your time and consideration and we look forward to a quick response to our time sensitive questions. They are time sensitive because each day the correct answers aren’t given, more vicious rumors spring up and more hard feelings are created.
Once again thank you.
Yours Respectfully
William (Bill) J. Blower
President
807-727-3971
Cc: Howard Hampton M.P.P.