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@ 36 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 7, 1989 CAUT news The issue of assessment must first be understood before you as a homeowner, can objectively approach your tax bill to deter- mine if you are taxed fairly. What is property assessment? The amount of taxes you pay is determined by a tax base, or the assessed value of your pro- Group celebrates 40 years ONO want The Our Night Out group (O.N.O.) will be celebrating 40 years next year, but may have to fold if recruiting does not Ss newm "I(0.N.0.), is basically fun, we have a good time", said Bryans. : Bryans describes the group perty. The market value of a property is defined as "the most pick up. as a service club. Everything likely selling price in an open market between a willing buyer The O.N.O. is a non- goes back into the community. and a willing seller, both of whom are under no pressure to buy denominational group, that ca- The club has bought new items or sell the property." According to the Assessment Department ters out of the Blackstock Rec- to help in the renovation of the a "fair property assessment system should also ensure that reational Centre. hal]. similar properties of comparable market value have similar assessments and thus pay about the same amount of taxes." With the recent reassessment in Scugog to 1984 market value, you can look at your Assessment Notice of 1989 and the estimated market value in 1984 is shown in box No. 4. The assess- ed value is 4 percent of market value ie: if your home has an estimated market value of $100,000 your assessment will be $4000. Prior to 1984 market value, only an assessment was given and we as taxpayers could not relate this value to anything, and the tax base was a mystery. The only way to confirm your position was to compare assessments of similar properties. By using 1984 market value as "Shown Base' for assessment, we as homeowners and taxpayers have a dollar figure that we can relate to, for determining if our assessment is fair. Most people The O.N.O. began in 1950 as a night out for the women. The group has had a surplus mem- bership of over 40 people, but is now lacking members, with only 17 currently involved. According to Nancy Bryans, whoisin her third term as pres- ident, it is hard to recruit new members, as perspectives have changed. "It was started when women decided they needed a night out, now the younger women need a night in," said pki On November 17, the O.N.O. is sponsoring a performance by Beattie, a humorist, au- thor, and actor of national fame. In his performance "Let- ter from Wingfield Farm", Beattie trades his industry po- sition, and suit, for a hundred acre farm, and a pair of over- alls. Beattie is a one man cast, who has had sold out perfor- mances in Markham, and in Pe- terborough. should have a rough idea of what their property value would have Bryans. Nancy Bryans io wi - been in the year 1984, and based on this, you should be able to Basically the group caters to h n lved (Sei 16 5 he Flare decide if an appeal is required if your value base is too high. weddings, graduation ban- The group has really evolved uw. "0.0"610.00 each. The Where this system falls short is the inequities we have found in some areas of Scugog. How the assessment department could reassess between 7000 and 8000 properties in a year is in ques- tion. All properties should have been visited and inspected to do a fair and correct 1984 market value reassessment. This was not done, because of time limitations and the number of assessors assigned to Scugog, so a four year job was done in one year and herein lies the problem. The homes that are assessed high in most cases were those where a full inspection was done, to arrive at a 1984 market value assessment. Road inspection through a car window will not ar- rive at a fair assessment, and many homes have been under assessed and are not paying their fair share. The mill rate is set by the Municipality of Scugog, and is the amount of tax dollars required for each $1000 of assessment. Then, factors are added for extra services ie: garbage pickup etc. If your assessment is low because of an incorrect (low) assessment, when the mill rate is used to determine your taxes, your tax bill will be low ie: assessed value X mill rate = taxes. If most homes or a large majority were assessed correctly, the total assessment of Scugog would be much higher, thus lower- ing the mill rate. With the lower mill rate the hugh increases experienced by some residents of Scugog would not have hap- pened and it is an unfortunate situation when some homeowners experienced as high as 35 to 60 percent increases in one year. One must remember that the minimum increase with no change in assessment was 14.8 to 16 percent depending on ser- vices provided. Those that had both an increase in assessment plus the questionable budget increase which caused the quadru- ple inflation base tax increase, were hit with the proverbial "dou- ble wammy." According to the Assessment Department, there were few "appeals" registered in Scugog. Those who did appeal were mostly from a few out-lying areas of Scugog, or new subdivision . homes where a personal full inspection was done by the assessor. The Assessment Department should take a long hard look at the areas where no appeals were made. These are the areas that are under assessed and possibly the "drive by reassess- _ ment" was used to determine their new assessment. With a proper job done, the 1984 reassessment would be ex- tremely fair. By bringing all homes to the correct value, the total assessment of Scugog would increase dramatically, thus lower- ing the mill rate and equity for all would make this a viable and acceptable new system where everyone will pay their fair share. Is this a dream or is it possible? We think this is possible, if they start their complete inspec- tion of the properties not visited previously. Meanwhile, those who are over assessed can appeal their assessment. The "Ontario Assessment Act' allows all proper- ty owners and tenants to appeal their own property assessment or the assessment of anyone else's property. Anyone wishing to appeal under the assessment act, must send in a complaint to the Assessment Review Board in writing within the time frame shown on the Notice of Property Valuation (Assessment Notice). The Notice of Complaint must include the reason for appeal, the appellant's name, property address, mailing address and the Assessment Roll Number. There is no cost for filing a complaint to the Assessment Review Board. We can not blame the Assessment Department for our total increase, especially with the School Boards, Region and Scugog total budget coming in at 14.8 - 16 percent. They must take a long hard look at how they conduct their business, for these kinds of increases are totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated by the Taxpayers in the future. We have seen a number of resident reactions, but if they continue to "Spend Indiscriminately" there . may be a fill fledged tax revolt and a refusal to pay those kinds of increases in future. "Good Management' by 'Local Government' and a review : of the way the properties were reassessed and inspections to bring the under assessed properties in line, could turn this tax ; problem that exists in Scugog around, Citizens Against Unjustified Taxes will be starting a drive for new members this month. ya This membership drive will take the form of a door-to-door canvass in all areas of Scugog Township. ) The cost of a membership is $3.00 per household. The above article was prepared by the Scugog Citizens Against Unjustified Taxes. SS ' P] quets, and holds an annual New Year's Eve party. When not catering the women meet every second Thursday at a member's home, as a social gathering. through the years, Bryans stat- ed. In the beginning one could not join unless she was mar- ried. Now a member does not have to be married, just want a night out. We put the 0O.N.O. is hoping to sell 250 tickets for the event. 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