Report to: General Committee                                         Date of Meeting: November 26, 2007

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

PREPARED BY:               Paul Wealleans, Director, Taxation

RECOMMENDATIONS:

THAT the non-residential taxes totalling $99,740.52 be adjusted under Section 357 (in the amount of  $97,846.05) and Section 358 (in the amount of  $1,894.47) of the Municipal Act, 2001 of which the Town’s portion is estimated to be $19,879.91;

AND THAT the associated interest is 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 four year period 2001 to 2004 is $19,879.91 which when applied to the tax adjustments account will cause it to be over spent by $53,185. This overage will be eliminated by year end by the applying the appropriate prior year write offs to the existing tax allowance for write-off accrual.

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, for non-residential properties.

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 four 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; (3) “Gross/manifest Error” that are the result of errors by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) on the assessment roll which caused an overcharge of taxes, and,(4) “ Razed by Fire” which relates to fire damage of a building on a property that reduced the tax burden. All such applications include a fire/insurance report.

There are five 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

$19,879.91

Region

$36,565.06

Education

$117,747.10

Total

$174,192.07

Less Capping / Clawback Adj’s

-$74,451.55

Total

$99,740.52

ATTACHMENTS:

Appendix A – “Tax Adjustments”

Appendix B – “Tax Adjustment under Section 357 & Section 358 of the Municipal Act, 2001 ”

RECOMMENDED

BY:    ______________________              ________________________

Barb Cribbett                                     Andy Taylor

Treasurer                                            Commissioner, Corporate

Services

Q:\Finance\SHARED\2007 General Committee Finance\0747 Tax Cancellation under S 357 of Mun Act Commercial.doc

Appendix A

Tax Adjustments Under the Municipal Act

For November 26, 2007 General

Committee Meeting

Report Total

Property Count

Description

Amount

1

Tax Class Correction

-$971.19

2

Demolished

-$14,372.53

3

Razed by Fire

-$6,658.74

5

Become Exempt

-$77,738.06

11

GRAND TOTAL

-$           99,740.52

Appendix B

Tax Adjustments under the Municipal Act

For November 26, 2007 General Committee Meeting

Tax Appeals:  Section 357

Application

Roll

Tax Year

Number

Number

Address

Reason

Amount

2003

864

020-122-11000

60 Esna Park Dr

Become Exempt

$ 44,551.10

2001

580

020-122-87060

100 Acadia ave

Become Exempt

$ 10,085.51

2002

729

020-130-84450

3751 Highway 7

Become Exempt

$ 5,742.80

2003

2871

030-220-32000

57 Main St Union

Razed by Fire

$ 5,735.46

2001

715

030-220-82500

65 Unionville Gate

Demolished

$  5,559.83

2002

716

030-220-82500

65 Unionville Gate

Demolished

$  8,812.70

2001

553

030-231-96000

9696 Kennedy Rd

Become Exempt

$ 11,692.53

2004

892

040-350-39802

54 Parkway Ave

Become Exempt

$ 5,666.12

Total:  Section 357

$  97,846.05

Tax Appeals:  Section 358

Application

Roll

Tax Year

Number

Number

Address

Reason

Amount

2001

792

020-132-38900

245 Renfrew Dr

Tax Class Correction

$ 971.19

2001

675

020-160-05000

10165 Woodbine Ave

Razed by Fire

$   428.08

2002

674

020-160-05000

10165 Woodbine Ave

Razed by Fire

$   495.20

| | | | | | | |

Total:  Section 358

$ 1,894.47

TOTAL Appeals 357

$  97,846.05

TOTAL Appeals 358

$  1,894.47

GRAND TOTAL

$  99,740.52