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MPAC reclassifies milk producer from agricultural to commercial

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In Agriculture
Nov 12th, 2014
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By Gisele Winton Sarvis Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin

The price of Miller’s Dairy milk will rise if the dairy’s owners are unsuccessful in fighting the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

MPAC re-classified the Creemore dairy farm, which bottles its milk in a plant on site, from agricultural to commercial, adding approximately $16,000 in new taxes above the $8,000 already paid to Clearview Township annually. In addition, MPAC has sent notice to Miller’s Dairy through Clearview Township that the business owes $37,000 in back taxes due to the re-classification.

“It’s going to create significant financial hardship,” said John Miller, owner of Miller’s Dairy.

“That’s a lot of money and all costs will affect the price,” he added.

In an interview with The Enterprise-Bulleting following Monday night’s Clearview council meeting Miller expressed disagreement with the reclassification.

“We think this is an un-justice. We need to correct this,” he said.

Miller added that his is the first operation of its kind to be re-classified in this way.

“We are using are own milk from our own farm, so we should be considered agricultural,” he said. “If we were bringing in milk from other farms I would be more than willing to accept the fact that we were being designated industrial.”

“I think they are comparing us to the Saputos, Parmalots and the Agropur’s of the world and their plants are industrial,” he said.

Miller’s Dairy, which employs 10 people, including three Miller family members, has submitted a request for reconsideration. Miller said he doesn’t expect to hear back from MPAC until early 2015.

But now he can add the support of the Township of Clearview. Councillors accepted a motion to support Miller Dairy’s request for reconsideration with MPAC. A township letter supporting that request will be distributed to MPAC’s Barrie office, as well as to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, to Premier Kathleen Wynne and the County of Simcoe. The letter expresses concern for the negative impact the assessment will have on the municipality’s agricultural goals and the province’s stated mandate for the agri-food sector.

In the report to council written by councillor Thom Paterson, he states that the township supports on-farm growth through innovations and on-farm value-added production.

“As a result agri-business is generating jobs in Clearview faster than any other economic activity.

“The imposition of tax disincentives, intended or inadvertent, act contrary to the Township’s commitment to our agricultural community and our stated economic development goals” Paterson wrote.

Further, Premier Wynne wrote in a letter to Jeff Leal, the minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs in September that she supports helping farmers develop their food processing businesses.

“I ask that you support the Premier’s Agri-Food Challenge, which calls on the province’s agri-food industry to double its growth rate and create 120,000 jobs by the year 2020,” Wynne wrote.

Miller’s Dairy built a processing plant on their farm in 2012 to pasteurize, homogenize and bottle the milk from their 120 jersey cows. It was built to add value to the farm operation.

Miller received a letter from Clearview Township in September informing him that he is owing $37,000 in back taxes to Clearview because MPAC changed the milk processing plant from agricultural to industrial.

“I never dreamed for a second that they would assess us as anything but agricultural,” said Miller, who was visited by an MPAC employee in the spring.

If the reclassification is allowed, other farmers will think twice before adding to their farms, Miller said.

“This is a deterrent. When we need jobs and we need economical activity, we don’t want to do this,” he said.

For the last few years, momentum has been gather to build the local food movement; to boost local farmers’ operations and encourage local stores and restaurants to sell local food, said Miller.

“It throws a pail of water on the embers,” he said.

MPAC is the body that does the assessment of all the properties in Ontario. Municipalities base tax rates on the Current Value Assessment under the Assessment Act. MPAC is responsible for the assessment and classification of more than 4.7 million properties in the province.

E-mails sent to MPAC and the Premier’s office for a response were not returned by deadline.

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