Property Assessments Going Up

By Jim Birchard Bayshore Broadcasting September 30, 2012

MPAC says value of residential property is up 8.7 per cent while farm land up a whopping 24 per cent

The latest assessment notices for about 190 thousand property owners of Orillia and Simcoe County are in the mail.

 Orillia homeowners will see the assessed value of their property increase by an average of approximately one per cent in 2013.  

Tina Newsham Municipal Relations Representative for the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation and says residential property values have increased by an average of approximately 5 per cent in Orillia since 2008 when the last assessment Update was delivered.

She says because of the four-year phase-in program, property owners will see an average assessment increase of approximately 1% each year for the next four years. 

The phase-in program does not apply to decreases in assessment which are applied immediately for the 2013 property tax year. 

Newsham says an increase in assessment does not necessarily mean an increase in property taxes. 

If the assessed value of a home has increased by the same percentage as the average in the municipality, there might be no increase in the property taxes paid by property owners. 

Residential property values have increased by approximately 8.7 per cent and farmland property values  increased by approximately 23.6 per cent. 

Newsham says if property owners believe their assessment is not correct, they have the option of filing a Request for Reconsideration and MPAC will review their assessment free of charge.