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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-03-14, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, March 14, 2019 Volume 35 No. 11 SPORTS - Pg. 8 Local teams continue playoff push into March SKATING - Pg. 9 Walton-area figure skater achieves quadruple gold RECOGNITION - Pg. 2 Blyth’s Mikayla Ansley impresses at United Nations Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0 INSIDE THIS WEEK: OFA seeks tax relief for farm properties County grants $750K to AMGH The Huron County Federation of Agriculture is again looking for tax relief from Huron County Council amid dramatic increases to farmland values. Huron County Federation of Agriculture Director Rob Vanden Hengel and Ben Le Fort, a senior farm policy analyst with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), both spoke to Huron County Council at its March 6 meeting, presenting the facts and figures and asking council to consider an adjustment to the tax rate collection ratio to keep farmers at 2018 levels. Thanks to adjustments at the provincial level from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), farmland will provide 20 per cent of property taxes in 2019 and then 21.6 per cent in 2020, the final year of MPAC’s most recent four-year assessment phase-in. This is compared to 14.2 per cent in 2016, meaning that Huron County farmland values have increased by 84 per cent, Le Fort said. Le Fort said that compared to residential tax rates, which have increased just nine per cent, farmland value is far outgrowing the rest of the tax classes, leaving farmers to pay vastly higher property taxes while other tax classes have remained relatively steady. He asked that Huron County maintain a tax rate of 22.3 per cent, the same as last year, for 2019 and then reduce the tax burden to 20.2 per cent in 2020. Le Fort told councillors that what the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is asking for is not a tax break, but an adjustment that would result in farmers paying more taxes every year, but the same proportion year after year. He then listed over a dozen counties and cities that have instituted lower farm tax ratios in the wake of rising farmland values. Le Fort said that farmland is the only property class in Huron County that has seen its tax burden increase over the past 20 years, while others have decreased. He was challenged on that point, however, by Ashfield- Colborne-Wawanosh Deputy-Reeve Roger Watt, who said that his waterfront property along Lake Huron has seen its value increase substantially in recent years – as much as 350 per cent. Le Fort agreed with Watt, saying that some property types have seen increases, but not entire classes in the way that farmland has increased. Watt said that when he and his fellow lakefront property owners went to MPAC for some relief, they were essentially told that nothing could be done to help them. With that in mind, he said, while he had sympathy for farmers as a group in their current situation, that was as far as he was willing to go in regards to helping ease the burden. Huron East Mayor Bernie Despite instituting a moratorium on grants in 2017 and upholding it for the next two years, Huron County Council has authorized a grant of $750,000 to the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital in Goderich. Hospital representatives spoke to Huron County Council earlier this year, asking the county to come on board as a supporter of the organization’s campaign to replace its CT scanner and renovate and expand its mental health facilities. While the entire campaign is anticipated to cost $3.5 million, the group asked for $750,000 from the county. Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Reeve Glen McNeil was the first to speak in favour of the grant, saying it would be completely manageable for the county to authorize payments of $150,000 per year for the next five years to the hospital. He said that both the CT scanner and the mental health resources are assets that touch everyone in Huron County and if those resources aren’t in Huron County, it results in a net loss for the community. Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan disagreed, saying the county should not be using property taxes to fund healthcare, which is a provincial responsibility. He said that by funding healthcare with property tax dollars, the county would be paying for something it shouldn’t. In addition, because property taxes are paid in connection with the value of someone’s property, he said it was unfair that those with larger, more valuable properties should be paying more for healthcare than those with smaller properties. McNeil said that as councillors, they represent all of Huron County and he didn’t think that a single Huron County resident would have a problem with the county spending money to improve the mental health landscape in the community. Huron County Warden Jim Ginn agreed with MacLellan, saying that he wasn’t in favour of granting money to a local hospital when it was last discussed (the new oncology unit at the Wingham and District Hospital) and he didn’t think the county should commit the funds this time either. He said that it’s a great cause, but Aiming for the button The Brussels, Morris and Grey Recreation Committee had big plans for the week of March Break, hosting numerous events throughout the week for students with some free time to kill. Days began with the Huron County Community Food Advisors teaching students the ins and outs of cooking in the morning and then the recreation committee took over in the afternoon. On Monday, it was curling, followed by pickleball on Tuesday and painting on Wednesday. Goat yoga was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Sharpening their curling skills on Monday and realizing it’s not as easy as the professionals make it look on television were, from left, Jack Nicholson, Ty Somers and Owen Newell. (Denny Scott photo) By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 20Continued on page 19 By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen