Delivering new assessment for municipalities
Earlier this month MPAC mailed approximately 35,000 Property Assessment Change Notices (PACNs) that represent $10.98 billion in new assessment for municipalities across Ontario.

We mail PACNs to property owners throughout the year when there has been a change to the property, such as an addition, new construction or renovation, or a change to the property’s classification.

Property owners have 120 days from the issue date on their notice to file a Request for Reconsideration (RFR). The issue date and unique RfR deadline is included on each PACN. Due to the emergency declared by the Province of Ontario, the RfR deadline for PACNs issued in May has been extended from September 8 to September 30, 2020. These deadlines may change if the Province further extends the emergency declaration.
Finding new ways to share information
We recently released our Q1 New Assessment Forecast that captures new construction and/or additions to existing property that have not previously been assessed by MPAC.

Our ability to forecast accurately is dependent on having access to assessment information, and COVID-19 has posed challenges to obtaining some details. Over the last two months we have been working collaboratively with municipalities on alternate ways to obtain information, and in early May we introduced a new online process for municipalities to submit digital building plans to us. Read about one municipality’s experience in the Partnerships in Action story included in this issue.

Please continue to share your ideas with us on innovative ways to share information in response to COVID-19.
Creating faster access to assessment data
In early June, we are releasing new enhancements to Municipal Connect, the primary source of assessment-related information for Ontario municipal staff, including a new ‘Quick Search’ function for accessing property information that we built in response to municipal feedback.
 
Municipal staff will be able to find assessment data faster by using the quick search function to generate a list of properties based on their search criteria, such as roll number, name of property owner or location.

Other enhancements in this release include:

  • Adding quick links to monitoring reports municipal staff use frequently in the ‘Dashboard Analytics’ section
  • The ability to identify properties that fall within a Business Improvement Area
  • Indicating when data was last refreshed in the main tool bar for quick reference

Municipal staff can find more details on the latest enhancements in Municipal Connect, and we invite your municipal staff to attend our June 3 webinar to learn more.
Upcoming municipal webinars
Overview of Municipal Connect and enhancements to improve your user experience

Are you a new user to Municipal Connect, or a veteran user wondering if you know all you could about the tool? If so, join Janet Rombis, Product Management Specialist, Rebecca Webb, Regional Manager, and Laura Voltti, Account Manager, for an overview of Municipal Connect and gain better understanding of its purpose and functionality and available resources. You’ll also hear about the latest enhancements that will help improve your user experience and get a heads-up about what’s upcoming for Municipal Connect.
 Wednesday, June 3 at 1 p.m. 
You can watch all our past municipal webinars here .
During COVID-19, MPAC is actively working with municipalities to identify new ways of obtaining documentation needed to capture new assessment. Earlier this month we introduced an enhancement to WorkSight, our two-way information-sharing portal in Municipal Connect, which allows municipalities to upload building plans directly to the portal.
 
Several municipalities, including the Township of Loyalist, are already submitting building diagrams and plan information through WorkSight, providing MPAC with access to critical assessment information.

“This new capability in WorkSight has saved our municipality time because we’re not looking up and manually printing paper plans for MPAC to review, and now MPAC has more timely access to information that will help us grow our tax base,” says Stephen Dickey, Director of Business Services & Township Treasurer.
 
Our Municipal and Stakeholder Relations team is sharing information about the submission process with municipal staff, and we encourage you to continue to share your ideas with us on alternate ways to obtain the information needed to gather new assessment for your municipality.

Do you have a great story about our partnerships in action?  Share it with us .
COVID-19 resources
You can continue to find the latest information on our response to COVID-19 and access shareable resources for property owners and municipal staff at  mpac.ca/COVID19resources . Thank you for everything you are doing to support our communities and keep people safe.