Clinton News-Record, 1973-12-13, Page 207-7
\i I
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46 King St. Ph. 4024652 Clinton 46tin During the Blyth, Auburn and Walton 4-H Achievement Day held in Clinton last Saturday,
four girls were presented with Provincial honors for completing 12 or more 4-H projects.
Left to right are Arva Ball of RR 1, Auburn; Wanda Piaetzer of RR 1, Auburn, Sherry Plaetzer
of RR 1, Auburn and Marion McCallum of RR 1, Walton. (News-Record photo)
Make sure
your
farm buildings
are efficient
Next Spring and Summer you'll be glad
you took time and money to fix every-
thing around the place that needs
attention. Maybe you even need new
buildings to increase efficiency. Fix and
build — now when you have the time —
with a Victoria and Grey custom built
loan . . today, at Victoria and Grey.
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CLINTON PUBLIC YOur
UTILITIES COMMISSION
J
Guess who's doing the dishes?
For years, doing the dishes has been one
of life's necessary evils.
But now, because of automatic electric
dishwashers, more and more people are
finding out it's an unnecessary evil,
Consider some of the things an automatic
electric dishwasher can save wives from.
Things like: the dreary routine of washing
and drying pots and dishes day after
day; the worry of dishpan hands, the
Consider this, too. A lot of dirty dishes
come with the joys of Christmas. So what
could make a more timely gift than an
automatic electric dishwasher?
See your appliance dealer soon about
the new automatic electric dishwashers.
They're not called The Witesavers for
nothing, you know,
atter-party aftermath; and the hours spent
doing dishes that could be spent in a
` hundred happier ways. The mfesavers
HAROLD WISE
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ERIC SCHELLEMSERGER
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assessment policy, if the land
lies dormant for two years or
more, it is reassessed at its
Market value to ensure that
only genuine farmers receive
the benefits of farm assessment.
Harold Collins summarized
the general response 'of the far,
ming community when he said;
"It's fair to assess according to
the land's ability to produce."
"My assessment went up
quite a bit to $30,600 on my
125-acre home farm, I won.
dered what would happen to
the taxes. Well, they came
down a bit (from $484,48 to
$354.05)."
Just how is a farm assessed
on the basis of the land produc-
tivity?
The Assessment Division in
Ontario's Ministry of Revenue
has developed a land
classification system, using
6,000 farm land sales samples
from across the Province, to
produce set assessment rates
per acre. The rate structure
reflects variations in soil tex-
ture and the climatic influences
in different regions of Ontario.
The soil's productivity lain-
fluenced by many physical fac-
tors - whether the soil is sand,
loam, clay or a mixture;
whether the land is level,
rolling or hilly; how much
stoniness exists; and drainage
and erosion problems. The
assessor visits the farm, walks
the property, and takes note of
these features,
"We talk with the farmer, if
he is available, because he can
tell us a great deal about the
character and productivity of
his land," explained Harold
Hill, one of more than 200 On-
tario assessors who specialize
in farm valuations.
Once the assessor has a
detailed description of the
land, he grades it with a poin-
ting system. There are six
classes of grading,
Class one land, for example,
would have good drainage,
high loam texture, level
topography and no physical
hazards. It would be awarded
between 85 and 95 points. Class
five land, by contrast, would be
Ontario's new approach to
assessing farms for local tax
purposes on the basis of the
land's productivity has been
well-received by the farmers of
Bruce County, the first to be
reassessed by the Provincial
Government.
Traditionally, all properties,
including farms, were supposed
to be assessed on the basis of
the property's probable sales
price - a sore point with far-
mers who found speculators,
developers, city hobby farmers
and spreading urbanization
penetrating farm country and
pushing land values up.
The new farm assessment ap-
proach, however, involves
valuing farm land on the basis
of its productivity. This means
that, in most parts of Ontario,
farm assessments will be lower
than the property's actual
market value, The new
assessment policy recognizes
the unique • land use
requirements of farming and
protects genuine farmers from
rising property taxes.
What happened to farm
assessments in Bruce County?
"Most of them increased, but
not to the probable sales price
of market value level of the
property," explained Harold
Hill, of the Ontario Govern-
ment's Bruce-Grey Regional
Assessment Office.
In rural townships with little
or no residential and commer-
cial properties, some taxes went
up, some went down, and the
rest remained much the same,
as the tax burden was
redistributed more fairly
among farm properties,
In other municipalities,
where residential, commercial
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or resort properties formed a
significant portion of the
taxable base, most farm tax
bills declined with
reassessment because the farms
had been previously
overassessed relative to other
properties.
This kind of favourable tax
redistribution for farmers oc-
curred, for example, in Kincar-
dine Township, where the
municipality held its revenue
needs relatively stable.
Orland Avery, who owns 200
acres in Kincardine Township,this
believes "with
reassessment, things are
fairer." His 1973 taxes
decreased by $182 to $400. As
will happen to all farmers in
Ontario, his taxes will be
reduced by a further estimated
50% when he receives his farm
property tax credit cheque
directly from the Ontario
Government later this year.
Mr. Avery, who supports the•
method of assessing farm land
according to its productivity,
laughed wheri he recalled the
assessor's visit last year.
"This fella came to the house
and said he wanted to assess
my land. I said go right ahead.
I mentioned a streak, of light
land in the back field. He said
"I know, I've got it marked on
my map." I was surprised at
that. I've got a lot more 'respect
for the assessor now. They
seem to know what they're
doing,"
George McKee had much the
same reaction, "I was drawing
manure at the time the assessor
came. He said he wanted to
know what I thought of the
land, whether it was stony,
what the drainage was like,"
Mr. McKee farms 100 acres
assessed at $20,400 with a
wood lot exemption of $150.
Don Maus, a beef farmer,
who saw his taxes drop from
$2,300 to $1,590 on his proper-
ties, said he couldn't be critical
of the new method of farm
,assessment "with results like
that."
:It just shook me when I first
saw my assessment notice. It
was way up. But I realize now
that the reassessment has
brought a readjustmeift. Oni
taxes were way out of line with
what the people in town were
paying - and they have all the
services," Mr. Maus commen-
ted.
Orville Trowse's 150 acres in
Kincardine Township are
assessed for $33,700, less $150
for wood lot exemptions. His
taxes came down from $633.80
to $388.18.
But, Mr. Trowse believes,
"they should penalize the fellas
who own farm land and leave it
vacant. If it's not tilled or used
as a farm, it should have the
assessment changed. We're
seeing more people coming in
(from the cities) to pickup 50
acres with a house, . but they
don't care about the land."
Under the new farm
6A—CLINTON NEWS-RECORD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, .1.973
New farm assessment system
based on land productivity
Dissatisfaction was expressed
at the Annual Meeting of the
Christian Farmers Federation
with Canada's involvement in
the World Food Program.
In a keynote speech to the
meeting, Elbert van Donker-
sgoed, secretary-manager of the
Drayton-based Federation said:
"Canada is second only to the
U.S. in making contributions to
WFP and on a per capita basis
we are number one. But these
are not valid criteria for deter-
mining our Canadian respon-
sibility to the fond needs of the
world. Our criteria must be the
resources for production that
our God has given us. In view
of the huge production poten-
tial with which God has blessed
this country, $1.50 to $2 per
capita in food aid is peanuts!
We cannot appease our con-
sciences with figures in the
millions and talk about being
number one."
_generally unAuitable for... Resolutions were adopted by
cultivation, but 't.i.s'ef.iii — forgra- g--the•-•rneeting which .call for fu's:
they examination by the C.F.F.
of Canada's participation, of
provincial participations, and
of direct participation by far-
mer organizations in food-aid
programs.
Re-elected for a fourth term
as president of the Ontario-
wide Federation was Martin
Verkuyl, a Hickson area corn
grower and pork producer.
John Jannsens, an egg
producer from Watford was re-
elected as vice-president for a
second term.
Federation reports showed
an increase in financial support
of 70 percent over 1972.
Plans were made for a
special celebration in March of
1974 at the occasion of the
Federation's 20th anniversary.
zing, with some erosion,
stoniness or poor drainage
problems. It would be awarded
between 25 and 35 points.
An individual farm, of
course, would consist of various
different classes of land,
requiring the assessor to specify
the exact acreages for each
class.
Once the land is graded on
the point system, the assessor
relates the information to the
climatic conditions for that
farm's location. Climatic zones
have been identified for various
parts of the Province, based on
such factors as temperature
ranges, the length of the frost-
free season, and snow belts.
Within each climatic zone a
rate of assessment per acre has
been established for.each of the
six classes of land. For exam-
ple, class one land in Kenora
may be valued at $40 an acre -
compared with $400 an acre in
central Ontario. The difference
would reflect climatic con-
ditions and soil productivity
and not developmental factors.
In the case of buildings, the
farm house is assessed much
the same as any residence on
the basis of market value,
Allowances for obsolescence
are made on outbuildings to
reflect changes in farm
technology and the economic
conditions of the community.
The idea is to protect genuine
farmers and ensure that far-
ming remains a viable business.
It's an idea that has gone well
in Bruce County - the first area
to experience the new ap-
proach.
Christian
farmers
dissatiOed