Friday October 21, 2005

Ontario ombudsman to probe MPAC

Ontario’s ombudsman is investigating the corporation that assigns values to private property for the purposes of municipal taxation. Andre Marin says there is a lack of transparency in how the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, or MPAC, arrives at its decisions.

Marin says the complaints meter in his office has moved into the red-zone over MPAC’s ways and there is deep-rooted dissatisfaction over property assessments.

He calls the corporation aloof and mysterious and says citizens are dazed and confused over their inability to get the corporation to reveal basic criteria on how values are set.

Marin says he knows something is wrong when the mayor of Sarnia refers to MPAC’s methods as Monty Python-like.

The ombudsman says he’ll investigate a number of areas, including MPAC’s refusal to adhere to a successful appeal of a property’s valuation in subsequent assessments.

The investigation is expected to last four to six months. (Source: Ottawa Citizen)