Sarah Pledge Dickson, LJI Journalist
The Municipality of Thorne hosted an information session Sunday morning at the Thorne Community Recreation Association to help residents understand how to request a review of their most recent property assessment.
About 40 people gathered to learn more about the process from property assessment expert Charles Lepoutre, who gave a similar presentation in Alleyn in Cawood in March, also well attended.
Lapoutre said there’s an increase in interest in the topic because many properties across the province are seeing a significant increase in their valuation.
Thorne mayor Karen Daly Kelly said that the municipality was asked to put on this event by concerned residents.
“We have a few people who are very vocal,” Daly Kelly said. “They wanted something and heard about [Lepoutre] to get a lot of information.”
Lepoutre walked attendees through how to fill out the “Application for review in respect of the property assessment roll” form.
He outlined the five main motives residents can use to apply for an assessment review, including a belief that their building or land value is not in line with market trends, or that the first assessment didn’t consider certain factors, such as wetlands on the property.
Daly Kelly said Thorne residents have a lot of concerns about their property assessments.
“If you have just a small corner of a farm and you don’t have a fancy house, you don’t expect to have to pay so much,” Daly Kelly said. “It’s that type of thing that’s creating problems.”
She said the municipality lowered its mill rate from 0.0068 to 0.0050 per cent of the property valuation in its most recent budget to prevent municipal tax rates from seeing as dramatic an increase as property evaluations have seen in recent years.
Lepoutre explained that a lot of people have been seeing a significant increase in their property assessment due to a leftover effect from the COVID-19 property market.
The data used to generate the property assessment dates back at least 18 months, meaning that this year’s assessment could encompass sales from 2021, 2022 and 2023.
“If you go back to 2021 and 2022, those periods are still part of the ‘covid era,’” Lepoutre said. “So that’s why the assessments are, for a lot of people, still pretty high.”
He advised people to take a look at the current market to see how much properties are going for in their area, noting the number might surprise people.
“That’s the reality, a lot of rate payers hate to have high values when they have to pay taxes, but they certainly love it when they want to sell their property,” he told THE EQUITY following his presentation.
When asked if the assessments could come down in the future once COVID-19 markets were out of the picture, Lepoutre said there’s no way to know.
“It depends on the market,” Lepoutre said. “If I could predict that, I would be the richest person in the world.”
A form for reassessment can be found on the MRC Pontiac website under Residents-Assessment. Forms are to be mailed or dropped off to the MRC Pontiac. Lepoutre said that residents will have to file their reassessment form before Apr. 30 to ensure their property is reassessed before the end of the year.