Report to: General Committee Date of Meeting: June 18, 2007

SUBJECT: Cancellation, Reduction or Refund of Taxes under Sections 357 and 358 of the Municipal Act, 2001

PREPARED BY: Paul Wealleans, Director, Taxation

RECOMMENDATIONS:

THAT residential taxes totalling $494,104.00 be adjusted under Section 357 (in the amount of $355,680.21) and Section 358 (in the amount of $138,423.79) of the Municipal Act, 2001 of which the Town’s portion is estimated to be $123,971.46.

AND THAT the associated interest be cancelled in proportion to the tax adjustments;

AND THAT the Treasurer be directed to adjust the Collector’s Roll accordingly;

AND THAT staff be authorized and directed to do all things necessary to give effect to this resolution.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The amount of taxes adjusted for each of the Region and School Boards will be reflected on the 2007 payment submissions to these bodies.

The Town of Markham’s portion of these taxes for the two year period 2005 to 2006 is $123,162.27.

1. Purpose 2. Background 3. Discussion 4. Financial 5. Environmental

6. Accessibility 7^. Engage ^21st 8. Affected Units 9. Attachment(s)

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to authorize the Treasurer to adjust the Collector’s Roll under Sections 357 and 358 of the Municipal Act, 2001.

BACKGROUND:

Sections 357 and 358 of the Municipal Act, 2001 allow for the reduction, cancellation or refund of taxes. Section 357 permits tax adjustments for the following reasons:

* if a property or portion of a property is eligible to be reclassified in a different class of property, and that class has a lower tax ratio for the taxation year than the class the property or portion of the property was in before the change, and if no supplementary assessment is made in respect of the change under subsection 34(2) of the Assessment Act;

* property that has become vacant land or excess land during the year;

* property that has become exempt from taxation during the year;

* building that during the year was razed by fire, demolition or otherwise, or

was damaged by fire, demolition or otherwise so as to render it substantially unusable for the purposes for which it was used immediately prior to the damage;

* person who was unable to pay taxes because of sickness or extreme poverty;

* mobile unit that was removed from the municipality during the year;

* property overcharged by reason of any gross or manifest error that is a clerical error, the transposition of figures, a typographical error or similar type of error, but not an error in judgment in making the assessment upon which the taxes have been levied; or

* in respect of a property which by reason of repairs or renovations could not be used for its normal use for a period of at least three months during the year.

Section 358 of Municipal Act, 2001 permits applications for tax adjustment by property owners who are overcharged by reason of any gross or manifest error in the preparation of the assessment roll by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) that was an error of fact, which may include but is not limited to, clerical errors, the transposition of figure or typographical errors, but not an error in judgment in making the assessment upon which the taxes have been levied. These applications relate to taxes levied in each or either of the two years preceding the year in which the application is made.

The attached schedules identify the year of taxation, the assessment roll number of each property, the reason for the tax appeal and the tax adjustment. The tax value includes the Town, Region and School Board share of taxes. There are three main reasons for these applications: (1) “Became Exempt” these are properties that were assessed on the assessment roll as taxable but became exempt during the year. They are properties that either were transferred during the year from a taxable owner to the Town and therefore became exempt from tax (generally lands as part of subdivision agreements) or lands purchased by a school board and became exempt; (2) “Demolished” which relates to the demolition of a building on a property that reduced the tax burden. All such applications include a Town Demolition Permit; and, (3) “Overcharged By Error” that are the result of errors by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) on the assessment roll which caused an overcharge of taxes.

There are seventeen applications listed that have no associated tax adjustment. These are applications reviewed by MPAC and determined to be not eligible for relief.

Tax Adjustments under Section 357 /358 of the Municipal Act
Town	$123,971.46
Region	$235,951.22
Education Federation of Agriculture	$134,160.02 $ 21.30
Total	$494,104.00

ATTACHMENTS:

Appendix A – “Tax Adjustments by Category”

Appendix B – “Tax Adjustment Under the Municipal Act, 2001 by Application Number”

RECOMMENDED

BY: ______________________ ________________________

Barb Cribbett Andy Taylor

Treasurer Commissioner, Corporate

Services

Q:\Finance\SHARED\2007 General Committee Finance\0730 Tax Cancellation under S 357 of Mun Act.doc

	Appendix A
Tax Adjustments Under the Municipal Act
For June 18, 2007 General Committee Meeting
	Finance Dept
	Report Total
Count	Description	Amount
36	Become Exempt	-$ 329,705.46
10	Demolished	-$ 24,711.23
3	Error in Assessment Roll Preparation	-$ 61,575.64
3	Razed by Fire	-$ 7,497.46
41	Gross/manifest error	-$ 70,614.21
	GRAND TOTAL	-$ 494,104.00

Appendix B Tax Adjustments under the Municipal Act
For June 18, 2007 General Committee Meeting
Tax Appeals: Section 357
	Application	Roll
Tax Year	Number	Number	Reason	Amount
2006	2922	020-170-31200	Razed by Fire / Demolished	---
2006	2950	030-2121-0100	Become Exempt	---
2006	2820	020-126-41716	Razed by Fire	$ 1,768.61
2006	2822	030-230-36294	Demolished	$ 1,956.35
2006	2863	030-212-69228	Demolished	$ 3,300.09
2006	2912	030-253-01527	Become Exempt	$ 1,482.08
2006	2913	020-171-29600	Demolished	$ 5,157.64
2006	2920	010-080-12000	Gross/manifest error	$ 1,993.74
2006	2925	020-142-42500	Demolished	$ 2,508.38
2006	2926	020-160-06714	Become Exempt	$ 20,323.90
2006	2948	020-137-75500	Razed by Fire	$ 3,668.66
2006	2951	030-232-75600	Become Exempt	$ 8,691.83
2006	2952	030-232-79300	Become Exempt	$ 1,292.54
2006	2957	020-125-22900	Gross/manifest error	$ 1,419.91
2006	2958	010-041-89900	Razed by Fire	$ 2,060.19
2006	2961	030231-55500	Become Exempt	$ 2,385.78
2006	2986	020-136-67291	Become Exempt	$ 4,515.92
2006	2987	020-136-62290	Become Exempt	$ 7,230.84
2006	2998	010-030-72200	Demolished	$ 3,553.13
2006	3005	030-252-96200	Become Exempt	$ 8,291.45
2006	3006	030-252-97200	Become Exempt	$ 9,681.47
2006	3007	030-252-97250	Become Exempt	$ 1,297.75
2006	3009	030-253-50800	Become Exempt	$ 39,993.68
2006	3012	030-260-03900	Become Exempt	$ 3,365.11
2006	3013	030-260-42000	Become Exempt	$ 6,692.37
2006	3014	030-258-05714	Become Exempt	$ 2,452.43
2006	3018	030-252-91400	Become Exempt	$ 21,878.34
2006	3019	030-252-91420	Become Exempt	$ 5,434.29
2006	3021	030-233-44700	Become Exempt	$ 1,449.59
2006	3024	030-258-05000	Become Exempt	$ 17,076.17
2006	3026	030-220-39000	Become Exempt	$ 6,549.44
2006	3027	030-220-41200	Become Exempt	$ 6,264.69
2006	3028	030-220-45000	Become Exempt	$ 7,134.68
2006	3029	030-220-47010	Become Exempt	$ 1,403.15
2006	3030	030-220-48000	Become Exempt	$ 1,276.89
2006	3044	020-137-45900	Demolished	$ 3,012.08
2006	3045	020-110-21900	Demolished	$ 2,252.90
2006	3078	030-212-54100	Demolished	$ 355.70
2006	3095	030-232-46700	Become Exempt	$ 766.56
2006	3111	030-220-91102	Gross/manifest error	$ 1,007.81
2006	3124	030-256-20000	Become Exempt	$ 79,449.74
2006	3116	040-320-56700	Demolished	$ 2,614.96
2006	3130	030-253-50950	Become Exempt	$ 387.78
2006	3131	030-253-50925	Become Exempt	$ 1,628.67
2006	3132	030-253-50850	Become Exempt	$ 44,935.60
2006	3133	030-252-96250	Become Exempt	$ 387.78
2006	3168	020-170-45700	Gross/manifest error	$ 2,092.77
2006	3258	020-136-52200	Become Exempt	$ 3,236.77
			Total: Section 357	$ 355,680.21
Tax Appeals: Section 358
	Application	Roll
Tax Year	Number	Number	Reason	Amount
2001	846	040-320-17800	Gross/manifest error	---
2001	847	040-320-17800	Gross/manifest error	---
2003	853	010-081-21400	Gross/manifest error	---
2004	3158	030-251-04425	Gross/manifest error	---
2004	2962	030-261-22700	Gross/manifest error	---
2004	1182	030-231-74200	Error in Assmt Roll	$ 27,982.29
2004	2865	030-232-23955	Gross/manifest error	$ 485.48
2004	2921	030-220-96007	Gross/manifest error	$ 1,522.15
2004	2924	030-214-76100	Gross/manifest error	$ 21,536.76
2004	2956	040-351-19226	Become Exempt	$ 423.50
2004	2983	020-144-70014	Gross/manifest error	$ 4,785.21
2004	2984	020-115-58600	Gross/manifest error	$ 206.58
2004	2992	030-260-76500	Gross/manifest error	$ 1,683.86
2004	2994	030-233-01552	Gross/manifest error	$ 97.53
2004	2996	030-232-61350	Gross/manifest error	$ 2,644.33
2004	3076	030-212-54100	Gross/manifest error	$ 2,111.25
2004	3134	030-256-12500	Error in Assmt Roll	$ 16,516.67
2004	3162	020-144-71464	Gross/manifest error	$ 433.83
2005	2895	010-010-49500	Gross/manifest error	---
2005	2949	030-221-01000	Become Exempt	---
2005	1442	030-231-06500	Become Exempt	---
2005	2969	030-250-83500	Gross/manifest error	---
2005	3157	030-251-04425	Gross/manifest error	---
2005	2967	030-251-53700	Gross/manifest error	---
2005	2968	030-252-73200	Gross/manifest error	---
2005	2966	030-253-16500	Gross/manifest error	---
2005	2965	030-253-19700	Gross/manifest error	---
2005	2964	030-256-40000	Gross/manifest error	---
2005	2914	030-258-05276	Gross/manifest error	$ 156.98
2005	2916	020-170-06400	Gross/manifest error	$ 802.38
2005	2985	020-115-58600	Gross/manifest error	$ 213.59
2005	2988	010-030-52000	Gross/manifest error	$ 3,833.97
2005	2995	030-233-01552	Gross/manifest error	$ 576.70
2005	2997	030-232-61350	Gross/manifest error	$ 2,733.98
2005	3002	030-260-45280	Gross/manifest error	$ 862.68
2005	3023	030-252-91400	Become Exempt	$ 12,324.67
2005	3042	030-258-05179	Gross/manifest error	$ 357.31
2005	3046	030-211-54304	Gross/manifest error	$ 2,170.04
2005	3051	030-231-54400	Gross/manifest error	$ 588.09
2005	3077	030-212-54100	Gross/manifest error	$ 672.81
2005	3101	030-233-82380	Gross/manifest error	$ 2,264.08
2005	3110	030-220-91102	Gross/manifest error	$ 735.34
2005	3135	030-256-12500	Error in Assmt Roll	$ 17,076.68
2005	3146	030-233-81756	Gross/manifest error	$ 12,176.50
2005	3163	020-144-71464	Gross/manifest error	$ 448.55
			Total: Section 358	$ 138,423.79
			TOTAL Appeals 357	$ 355,680.21
			TOTAL Appeals 358	$ 138,423.79
			GRAND TOTAL	$ 494,104.00