Report to: General Committee Date
of Meeting: May 26, 2008
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 taxes totalling approximately $234,407.42 be
adjusted under Section 357 (in the amount of $222,240.66) and Section 358 (in
the amount of $12,166.76) of the Municipal
Act, 2001 of which the Town’s portion is estimated to be $29,708.48;
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.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
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) “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, and, (4) “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.
There are 35 applications listed
that have no associated tax
adjustment. These are applications reviewed by MPAC and determined to be not
eligible for relief.
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Tax Adjustments under Section 357 /358 of the Municipal Act
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Town
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$29,708.48
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Region
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$56,427.50
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Education
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$140,933.88
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Capping / Clawback
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$7,337.56
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Total
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$234,407.42
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FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
The amount of taxes
adjusted for each of the Region and School Boards will be reflected on the 2008
payment submissions to these bodies.
The Town of
Markham’s
portion of these taxes for the four
year period 2003 to 2007 is estimated to be $29,708.48.
FINANCIAL TEMPLATE:
Not
applicable.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:
None
ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:
None
ENGAGE 21st CONSIDERATIONS:
None
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
None
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\2008 General Committee Finance\824
Tax Cancellation under S 357 of Mun Act Commercial_Revised.doc
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Appendix A
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Tax
Adjustments Under the Municipal Act
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For
May 26, 2008
General
Committee
Meeting
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Finance
Dept
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Report
Total
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Count
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Description
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Amount
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12
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Become Exempt
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-$200,934.31
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6
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Demolished
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-$16,751.37
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2
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Razed by Fire
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-$4,554.98
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1
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Gross / Manifest
Error
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-$7,525.26
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1
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Tax Class
Correction
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-$4,641.50
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35
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No
Recommendation
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$0.00
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57
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GRAND TOTAL
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-$ 234,407.42
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