October 2021 - InTouch

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October 2021

Continuing our Conversation with Municipal Representatives

Last week, we held our third and final meeting of the year with our Municipal Liaison Group (MLG), which has been an important source of feedback and driver for collaborative projects to support the sector in 2021.

We asked for feedback from the group on activities under our new Strategic Plan, which will be shared with municipalities next month, and held a discussion about the development of improvements to the homepage of Municipal Connect, our data sharing platform.

The group also discussed work done to date on a new Master Municipal Services Agreement and our work with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) on a pilot project to evaluate the benefits of adopting digital permitting.

We are grateful to the members of our Municipal Liaison Group for volunteering their time and providing valuable insights as part of our working groups this year, and for their open dialogue and feedback. If you would like more information on any of these initiatives, please contact your local Account Manager.

Year End Activities and Key Dates

We have nearly completed our work to capture new assessment for 2022 municipal assessment rolls, and even with the challenges presented by the pandemic, we are on track to capture $37 billion in new assessment province-wide, achieving our forecast for the year.

Now, our focus will shift to preparing for year-end municipal products and the distribution of over 800,000 Property Assessment Notices that reflect changes to property ownership, classification or value that occurred this year across Ontario.

Notices will be mailed between November 12-23 and will now identify the reason(s) a property owner has received a notice. Details of these reasons can be accessed on the notice via a QR code or our website at mpac.ca/notice. We encourage you to direct property owners to mpac.ca if they have questions about their assessment or their notice.

Here is a summary of activities and key dates to be aware of through the rest of 2021:

October 29

MPAC Deliverables: Preliminary New Assessment Forecast posted to My Products

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators

November 8

MPAC Deliverables: Final 2021 Control Totals

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators

November 12 - 23

MPAC Deliverables: Over 800,000 Property Assessment Notices mailed

Municipal Audience: For more details, please check your local delivery schedule on the Sightline Portal of Municipal Connect

Week of November 29

MPAC Deliverables: Municipal Change Profile (MCP) available in the My Products Portal of Municipal Connect

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators

Week of November 29

MPAC Deliverables: Year-end Tax File posted to My Products

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators

Week of December 6

MPAC Deliverables: Municipal Connect available for the 2022 Tax Year

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators

Week of December 13

MPAC Deliverables: 2022 Municipal Levy letter mailed

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators for all 204 MPAC Billing Partners (single and upper tier municipalities)

Week of December 13

MPAC Deliverables: 2021 Municipal Year-End Report and Municipal Assessment Change Summary

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators

On/before December 14

MPAC Deliverables: Assessment Roll for 2022 Taxation delivered

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators / Taxing Authorities

January 3, 2022

MPAC Deliverables: First Quarter 2022 Levy invoice mailed

Municipal Audience: Municipal Administrators for all 204 Billing Partners

Week of January 17, 2022 (TBC)

MPAC Deliverables: 2021 Municipal Year-End Report shared with Clerks and Heads of Council

Municipal Audience: Elected Heads of Council / Clerks Office

Upcoming webinar

Overview of 2022 Enumeration Process

Join MPAC’s Enumeration Project Team for an overview of MPAC’s role in the upcoming 2022 Municipal Election process. Shannon Long, Account Manager, Municipal and Stakeholder Relations and Brad Baker, Manager, Customer Interaction, Corporate and Information Services, will share the project plan, timelines, legislated products, and strategies intended to improve the accuracy of the Preliminary List of Electors.

Elections Ontario's (EO) Gene Genin, Director, Innovation and Electoral Transformation, will also share an update related to the transition of the municipal voters’ list from MPAC to EO in January 2024.

There will be time for questions during the webinar.

Date: Thursday, November 4

Time: 1 to 2 p.m. EDT

If you missed last month's webinar on the current state of property assessment appeals, you can watch the recording here.

View the schedule of upcoming municipal webinars on mpac.ca and view recordings of all past webinars on our YouTube channel.

A collaborative new report on Ontario’s optional small business subclass is putting municipal partnerships on display.

Following the announcement of a new tax policy tool for municipalities in the 2020 Ontario budget, municipal representatives, municipal associations, select industry associations and MPAC worked together to create an objective summary of policy directions for small businesses that may be relevant to a municipality’s consideration of the new optional subclass.

“The report is a thoughtful discussion of the issues, decision points and implementation considerations faced by municipalities considering whether to implement a small business property tax subclass,” says Casey Brendon, President of the Ontario Municipal Tax and Revenue Association (OMTRA).

“We were really pleased to work together with our sector partners to develop this resource to support the municipal sector,” says Donna Herridge, Executive Director, Municipal Finance Officers’ Association (MFOA).

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), Ontario Business Improvement Area Association (OBIAA) and municipal representatives were also part of the working group that developed the report.

Do you have a great story about our partnerships in action? Share it with us.