The Rural Voice, 1998-10, Page 26Bitter harvest
Grey County apple growers are hot because their cold storage plants
have been reassessed ascommercial properties, sending their taxes through the roof
Story by Roberta Avery
Photo by Ted Shaw
Apple farmer Rob
Gardner had been
hoping for a
reduction in his property
taxes under the province's
new agricultural tax
program.
Instead, when he
opened his tax bill
recently, he found out he's
facing a whopping 496 per
cent increase to $16,900
from $2,834, and he's
hopping mad.
"It's tough enough to
survive in the orchard
business without this, no
grower I know can pay
that kind of money
without going into debt,"
he said.
He's been told that
under the terms of the May
1997 Ontario budget, his
apple storage facility is no
longer considered
agricultural, has been
reclassified commercial,
and no longer qualifies for
farm tax breaks.
"I couldn't believe it.
We're only storing our
crop, that's what farmers
do. Whether it's hay in
barns or apples in storage,
it's clearly an agricultural
use," he said.
But that's not how Rick
Clarke, the local property
assessment commissioner,
sees it.
"It's a value-added
component which is
classifief as commercial in
a similar way to a winery,"
he said from the regional
assessment office in Owen
Sound.
In a winery, grapes are
22 THE RURAL VOICE
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Bob Gardner saw the taxes on his farm increase 496 per
cent when his apple storage facility was declared a value-
added, commercial enterprise.
processed into wine, but
no processing is done to
apples in storage, argues
Gardner "So that puts us in
a totally different
category."
He wrote to Premier
Mike Harris and asked
him to intervene and was
disappointed when Harris
wrote back to say "there is
nothing I can do to assist
you in these
circumstances."
Jenny Leuty, 32, has
recently taken over the
management of her
family's 100 -hectare
orchard and 12 -room,
controlled atmosphere
storage facility in St.
Vincent Township near
Mcaford.
The final property tax
bill was so high that the
township treasurer called
to warn her.
"He didn't want me to
die of shock when I
opened the envelope, it's
about $27,000 and that's
more than five times what
we've been paying, it
doesn't make any sense,
we're farmers we can't
pay that kind of money,"
she said.
Larry Hummel, director
of appraisal services with
the finance ministry, said
apple storage facilities on
farms compete with
commercial storage
companies.
"It's important that
fairness prevails and the
tax circumstances are the
same," he said.
In a bad year such as