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4 THE NEW TANNER Significant tax changes on for local business people RONAL COMMOSIITE n-ne i PORTRAIT GIFT: Well known Halton Hills resident, Dr. Tom Ramautarsingh, presents a cartoonist's portrait to Her Honour Hillary Weston, Leuitenant Governor of Ontario, at the Commonwelath Contest Awards in Toronto. The cartoon, a first for the Lt. Gov., was drawn by J.R. Artinger, a colleague of Lynn Johnston (For Better or Worse). Dr. Ramautarsingh is chief Examiner of the Internation Commonwealth Es- say Contest. Submitted photo MONDAYS/WEDNESDAYS A politician from the north of Halton will never again be chosen to chair Halton Regional council, ac- cording to Acton Councillor Rick Bonnette after council voted 18-1 last week to make the Halton Region chair an elected position. "On the surface, the change from having the chair elected by members of re- gional council may look like it's democratic, but in my opinion. it will exclude any- By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner Provincial elimination 'of the business occupancy tax means owners of 207 com- mercial properties in Acton will see, on average, a 43 per cent increase in their interim tax bill, expected shortly in the mail. Under the new Fair Mu- nicipal Finance Act tax bills will no longer be sent to ten- ants of commercial proper- ties, but instead, to the prop- erty owners who now must collect the taxes from their tenants. At a briefing on the new legislation last week Town Treasurer Andy Koopmans one from the north from ever being chair again," Bonnette, who cast the lone no vote, explained in an interview on Friday. "Look at the population in Oakville and Burlington -- they outnumber us four to one and by sheer numbers will decide who the next chair is." Bonnette argued, adding that a campaign for the regional chair could cost $200,000, well beyond the fund raising abilities of poli- Glentea Geauty Salou Bev Swartz - Brenda Noseworthy THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1998 said the change will have a significant impact on some property owners, especially those who have gross leases with their tenants. "Property owners who have business tenants work- ing under gross lease ar- rangement may find they have difficulty in recovering these extra taxes that they may not have anticipated when they negotiated the leases," Koopmans said. Gross lease arrangements don't specially say that the tenant is responsible for pay- ing the taxes on the property. Under net lease deals tenants are responsible for paying their share of property taxes. "This is one of the areas Bonnette against electing Halton Regional chair ticians from smaller commu- nities. Bonnette also said that since Halton was formed in the mid-70's there had been an "unwritten tradition" of alternating between choosing a chair from the north and south. The proposed change was suggested by an Oakville councillor who argued that since the region is responsi- ble for 46 per cent of the tax bill, voters should be able to pick the person who decide how tax dollars are spent. in particular where the prov- ince has mentioned it, the Assessment Department has mentioned it and we continue to mention it to a few of the property owners that have called us, that the municipal- ity is not the one to get in the middle of negotiations be- tween the property owners and their tenants." Koopmans said. Acton Councillor Rick Bonnette said the impact of the change concerns him be- cause there are enough empty stores now. "What about a p plaza that has say, four of seven units empty, what you're say- ing is that the owner will . have to pay tax on those empty units," Bonnette asked. Koopmans explained that it would be up to the owner to decide if he wants to pro- rate the taxes among his ten- ants and that there is tax credits available for empty units. Other changes in the leg- islation include: * Assessment appeals must be launched by March 31 of each year -- essentially a 90, not 21 day, appeal pe- riod. * Farmers will no longer have to pay taxes and then apply for a farm tax rebate of 75 per cent from the province at the end of the year. Farm taxes will be reduced by that 75 per cent up front. en * Land will be assessed at its current market value. UOMISER, Located in the IGA Plaza EP aee S160 LUMBER, BUILDING SUPPLIES & HARDWARE 853-5 603 298 Queen Street, Acton, Ontario L7J 1P9 Congratulations Acton (upstairs) on our new Community Centre - a job well done! 264 Main St. N. (519) 853-1970 Acton, Ontario Tor, Line (416) 601-1259 Lj 1w9 Fax (519) 853-2542 Acton Home HARDWARE AS Specials WD-40 312 G size 247 LEATHERTOWN r_Feed Supply John Reeve 853-2600 47 Mill Street East Way to Go Acton! Siffari has the styles that express the look and feel of your Special love. iffawt reg. 3.69 Brita CaRTRIDGE 4s? . reg. 5.99 / Sale onds Jan. 31 Pamela Worsfold 853-3461 Family Hairstyling 21 Mill Street, Acton Mon-Wed 8-7 Thurs-Fri 8-8 Sat 8-6 Sun 10-4 853-1730 eg a De -- Georgetown 873-4405 310 Guelph St., Unit 5 DOSE UU im