With the general reassessment in Ontario being postponed property taxes will again be based on Year-4 values from the current assessment cycle. This will make 2021 the first year since 2008 without reassessment/phase-in change.
While this property tax “leap year” will mean less reassessment related tax volatility, all other variables and factors will continue to influence and alter the local property tax landscape.
It will be critical for municipal finance officers to adapt their annual assessment and tax discussions to account for this year’s unique circumstances. Written reports and briefings will need to be adapted so that the decision makers are given a clear understanding as to what this pause means and doesn’t mean in regard to tax shift, revenue growth, tax rate change, etc... Achieving this may be more or less of a challenge depending on how the concepts have been handled in the past.
Regardless of the starting point, last year’s reports, presentations, and analytical models simply won’t support the 2021 exercise so the messaging and explanations must be adapted.
In this webinar we will walk and work through a variety of critical concepts and how to speak to and report on them with precision and accuracy. In doing so we will look at many of the common elements we typically see in staff reports and presentations and provide examples and suggestions as to how these might be modified to deal with this year’s unique circumstances. Ideally participants will walk away ready to update, adapt and present their assessment, tax and tax policy messaging for 2021.
Speaker: Peter Frise, Vice President, Municipal Tax Equity Consultants
