Paying your property taxes on equal terms Are Your Local Taxes Fair Right now, youi probably don't know whether your property tax bill is fair. The reason? The assessed value specified on your Assess- ment Notice doesn't seemn to have any logical relation- ship to the market value of your property, let alone to your tax bill. And yet it is this assessed valtie which de- termines your share of mu- nicipal and education taxes. Look at it this way. Two families each own a home worth $60,000. They live in the same neighborhood of the same municipality. Onie property, built twenty years ago, is assessed at $4,000. The second property, built only ten years ago, is assessed at $8,000. Neither famnily knows whether or flot its assessmnent is right. But, because the assessed value is the basis for calculat- ing property taxes, the sec- ond famiiy will end up pay- ing twice as much in local and school taxes as the first family. Clearly something is wrong. Similar properties having similar values in the same municipaiity should be '. PRESS asse-ssed at the sainie percent- age of market value if the property owners are to pay local taxes on equal ternis. On the other hand, a prop- erty worth SI120,000 should be paying twice the taxes of a $60,000 property i f they are dsSessed properly. How can equity i as- sessment be achieved su thiat the ov.ners of sîimilar prop- erties with similar values do, at last, pay local taxes on equal terrnis? The Initiative for Change A municipal counicîl can request the Province to con- duct a reassessnîent under Section 86 of the Assessmient Act. This is what has hap- pened in your municipality. Section 86 enipowers property assessors to correct existing assessnents so that similar properties of sirnilar value are placed on an equal footing for local tax pur- poses. While Section 86 should brirtig fairness among prop- erties within a given class - residential or commercial or i n du st ral1 - it pro tects Tox burden by ciass remains the same. against tax shifts from one property ciass onto another, such as fromi commercial onto residential. In other words, each property class wiil bear the same propor- tion of the total municipal tax burden foliowing the Section 86 assessments as it did before. The objective is soiely to achieve equity within each property class. Certain property owners within a class, who have been paying more than their fair tax share, will have both their assessments and their property taxes reduced. Others, who have been un- derassessed, will face tax in- creases. lowever, there are many property owvners %vho have been properly assessed ini the past and wvhose taxes will flot, therefore, change as a result of reassessmnents under Section 86. How to Estimate Your Tax Bill When you receive your Assessment Notice, you wvill also receive information to help you estimate the impact of your new assessment on your taxes, compared with your actual tax bill last year. You cari do this by: 1 . Taking your assessed value on the Notice. 2. Dividing it by 1 ,000. 3. Multiplying it by your estimated municipal milI rate, which is shown on your Assessment Notice insert. For example: 1 . Your assessed value is $6,000. 2. Divided by 1,000 = $6. 3. Multiplied by the mill rate (let us say, i125 milîs) = $750. As a result of Section 86 assessments, miii rate struc- tures will change. Remem- ber, too, the miii rate may be increased this year if your municipal council or school board finds it necessary to raise taxes generally in order to finance essential services. How to Check Your Assessment You can also check the accuracy of your assessment by: * Estimating the market value of your property - that is, what it would sell for on the open market. e Finding out frorn your Regional Assessment Office what percentage of market value is used to calculate assessed values in your mnu- nicipality. a Enquirîng at the Re- gional Assessment Office, by giving specific examples, whether properties similar in market value to yours have similar assessed values. For instance, let's assume your property is worth $ 60,000 on the open market. If the assessors in your mu- nicipality base assessed values on ten percent of market value, then your as- sessed value should be $6,000 (10% of $60,000). What if it's Wrong? If you think there is something - anything - wrong with your assessment, please contact your Region- ai Assessment Office. Open Houses - where you can drop in to discuss your assessment with the assessors _ will be held at convenient hours in your area before the assessment roll is officiaily returned. Any errors can be corrected at this stage. An insert notice with yourAssessment Notice contains information on the dates, times and locations of these Open Houses. If you are unable to at- tend an Open House, please telephone the Regional As- sessment Office and make an appointment to taik with the assessor responsible for your neighborhood. He or she, as a professional trained in property valuation, wil be glad to discuss your as- sessment with you. The Right of Appeal 0f course, you may stili be unhappy with your as- sessment after talking with the assessor. In this case, you have the right of appeal to the Assessment Review Court. The procedures for lodging an appeal with the Regional Registrar are de- tailed on the back of your Assessment Notice. If you have any problems, the Re- gional Assessment Office would be pleased to help you file your appeal correct- ly before the last date for complaint noted on your Assessment Notice. M. amu- IAIOO OIAARO $60,000 $4,000 Help beat cancer For rnany of us, flowers are a symbol of beauty, but through the ages, flowers have been used for so many purposes. They have in- spired paintings and poems; they have been used for medicine, in perfumes and ,even in food. One flower in particular is of a speciai significance to the Canadian Cancer Society; the daffodil. Whiie the daffodil grows wiid in most parts of Europe, it has become the Society's em- biem flower; the symbol of hope. Daffodils corne up year after year, symbolizing the rebirth of life. With it cornes the Canadian Cancer Society's annual fund raislng cam- paign in which members of the Beta Sigma Phi Sorority wiIl be selling daffodils at local mails and plazas on March 27, 28 and 29. Each person is one in an army of people working together waging an ail-out war, trying to rid the world of this dread disease. Cancer is not one disease, but "a group of more than 100 dif- ferent ones. Research money wili help to increase our understanding of can- cer, and to develop new and better methods of preven- tion and possible cure. Buy the symbol of hope to aid in cancer research. Through your generosity, Cancer can be beaten. REA4L ESTATE R. R. 1, Brooklin, Ontario (416) 655-4525 1 have buyera for varlous sizes of older homes ln the Brooklin, Poil Perry ar«, aiso parceis of land and lots. Scm. of thoe people are prepared to psy&aIl Cash. If you are conaidering seiiing, do not hesitate to give me à "aI for my personai, confidential attention la your Inquiries as to valuation, financing, etc. MILDRED WOODWARD 656-M525 ANYTIME. FOR FUTHER INFORMATION CALL M. WOODWARD, REALTOR 655-4525 $60,000 $8,000 E quai market values But unequal assessed values Equol market valuesa $60.000 $60,000 $120.000 And equal assessed values $6.000 $6,000 $12.000 On~L!~.668-6221 683-6221 GOLO JACKET REALTY LTDr memnber broker 824 Brock St. N., Whitby Rach fÇce te Ind.p.umdeaJoweed ami .pert". $7,91X) DOWN- Modern brick detached; double garage, 3 bedrooma, 2 batha, famiiY room, brick freplace and walkout ta prvate yard with Inground heaied kidney ahapped pool. 11% Firai. BRUCE OPFERKUCH 6684221. LARGE BUILDING LOT. 0.89 ACRE SERVICED LOT between Oshawa and Whit- by. Close to public and separate schools. BOB JACKSON 66".221. SPLIT LEVEL BUNGALOW 1164,900. Ruatic kitchen, cathedral ceiiing. DIning room and a Tennessee Firepiace lnIliving room. Detached garage on a 50 x 100 foot lot. This certainily le worth an Inspection. HELEN Couture 0684221.