Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator.
January 26, 2008
Rob Faulkner
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 26, 2008)
Better hope the value of your home hasn't grown faster than your neighbour's since 2005.
After a two-year freeze, Hamilton property assessments are back in 2008 to update home values last done as of Jan. 1, 2005.
Ending the freeze on municipal property assessments may surprise home owners on their 2009 bills. The new assessments, dated Jan. 1, 2008, will affect 2009-2012 tax years.
"I'm dreading it," said Hamilton Beach Strip resident Eleanor Anstruther, a Ford plant retiree who says she's using her RRSP to pay a $6,000 tax bill on the Beach home for which she paid $300,000.
According to data from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) , the city-wide average home value rose 10 per cent from 2005 to 2007.
RAHB president Ann Cosens said it's a typical rate for Hamilton and should continue. She says we won't see 20 per cent gains like Toronto has.
Tax bills are based on value assessed by the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC). If you're above the city-wide average increase, you pay more; below average, you pay less.
"It's going to go up again, I know it," Anstruther adds. "(The Beach) was called a slum 10 years ago, but now it's the Gold Coast. They're getting my gold, I can tell you that."
Ontario cancelled MPAC assessments in 2006 and 2007 after an ombudsman's report slammed methods used by the Crown corporation. The city says one change will see tax increases phased in over four years. Tax decreases will bring immediate rebates.
Property will be assessed every four years.
The City of Hamilton expects to get results of the 2008 MPAC assessments by December. The changes won't appear until the June and September instalments of 2009 tax bills.
City finance manager Joe Rinaldo said changes in assessment can shift a tax burden around, but law prevents the city from getting richer due to a city-wide assessment increase.
He said last time around, the city-wide assessment increase was 15 per cent. With a city property tax rate of 1.5 per cent, for every $10,000 increase in a home's MPAC assessment value, it will cost an extra $150 a year, phased in over a four-year period.
The city can earn extra property tax revenue through absolute growth like new subdivisions, yet it also has to pay for servicing new areas, Rinaldo said.
Noting the city gathers about $600 million from property taxes, he said pre-2005 Hamilton saw a shift in the tax burden from the lower city to the outlying suburbs.
Ward 8 city councillor Terry Whitehead knows that well. The West Mountain has seen dramatic leaps in tax bills, he said, because it's a desirable area without the area-rating advantages of former municipalities like Ancaster.
"Last night in fact ... my wife and I sat down and looked at our own home to see what the last assessment was, and what the next assessment might be," Whitehead said.
"We're looking at, probably, a 30 per cent increase."
If the city-wide average is 10 per cent, that could hand Whitehead a steep 15 per cent increase in his property tax bill. Unlike Ward 3 and 4, which have come in below the city-wide assessment increases, he said, Ward 8 bears extra burden when new city programs start.
In 2007, the city-wide average assessment (using 2005 MPAC data) is $205,700 which brings a tax bill of $3,071.
Taxes on an average home range from $1,835 in Ward 3, to $4,425 in Ward 12, for Ancaster homes with transit.
Whitehead, who says MPAC needs to be fixed by changing taxes only with a house sale, says today's system hurts seniors on fixed incomes, who can see their taxes rise with market value.
rfaulkner@thespec.com
905-526-2468
Tax time
Value changes 2005-07 for average homes, in data from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington. If MPAC data matches the realtors' data, areas to expect tax rises will be Hamilton East, Hamilton Mountain, Dundas and Ancaster. Other areas will be stable, with a drop in Stoney Creek. City-wide average: $208,816 to $231,491 (+10%) Hamilton Centre: $118,236 to $130,719 (+10%) Hamilton East: $150,926 to $169,149 (+11%) Hamilton Mountain: $197,717 to $221,448,719 (+11%) Hamilton West: $203,815 to $227,590 (+10%) Ancaster: $341,748 to $381,760 (+10.5%) Dundas: $263,771 to $297,464 (+11%) Flamborough: $385,628 to $427,656 (+10%) Waterdown: $288,060 to $318,074 (+10%) Stoney Creek: $234,731 to $255,914 (+8%) How property tax works Property tax assessments are supposed to be revenue-neutral: they shift a tax burden from house to house, but don't net a city more overall money. Say the City of Hamilton wants to raise $1 billion. It finds the total value of all taxable properties in the city, its tax base. A tax rate is the number the city has to multiply this tax base by to get the $1 billion it needs. When assessed value changes, so does your share of that $1 billion. If you rise above the average increase -- which acts like a zero-point -- you pay more. Below it, you pay less.
January 26, 2008
Rob Faulkner
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 26, 2008)
Better hope the value of your home hasn't grown faster than your neighbour's since 2005.
After a two-year freeze, Hamilton property assessments are back in 2008 to update home values last done as of Jan. 1, 2005.
Ending the freeze on municipal property assessments may surprise home owners on their 2009 bills. The new assessments, dated Jan. 1, 2008, will affect 2009-2012 tax years.
"I'm dreading it," said Hamilton Beach Strip resident Eleanor Anstruther, a Ford plant retiree who says she's using her RRSP to pay a $6,000 tax bill on the Beach home for which she paid $300,000.
According to data from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) , the city-wide average home value rose 10 per cent from 2005 to 2007.
RAHB president Ann Cosens said it's a typical rate for Hamilton and should continue. She says we won't see 20 per cent gains like Toronto has.
Tax bills are based on value assessed by the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC). If you're above the city-wide average increase, you pay more; below average, you pay less.
"It's going to go up again, I know it," Anstruther adds. "(The Beach) was called a slum 10 years ago, but now it's the Gold Coast. They're getting my gold, I can tell you that."
Ontario cancelled MPAC assessments in 2006 and 2007 after an ombudsman's report slammed methods used by the Crown corporation. The city says one change will see tax increases phased in over four years. Tax decreases will bring immediate rebates.
Property will be assessed every four years.
The City of Hamilton expects to get results of the 2008 MPAC assessments by December. The changes won't appear until the June and September instalments of 2009 tax bills.
City finance manager Joe Rinaldo said changes in assessment can shift a tax burden around, but law prevents the city from getting richer due to a city-wide assessment increase.
He said last time around, the city-wide assessment increase was 15 per cent. With a city property tax rate of 1.5 per cent, for every $10,000 increase in a home's MPAC assessment value, it will cost an extra $150 a year, phased in over a four-year period.
The city can earn extra property tax revenue through absolute growth like new subdivisions, yet it also has to pay for servicing new areas, Rinaldo said.
Noting the city gathers about $600 million from property taxes, he said pre-2005 Hamilton saw a shift in the tax burden from the lower city to the outlying suburbs.
Ward 8 city councillor Terry Whitehead knows that well. The West Mountain has seen dramatic leaps in tax bills, he said, because it's a desirable area without the area-rating advantages of former municipalities like Ancaster.
"Last night in fact ... my wife and I sat down and looked at our own home to see what the last assessment was, and what the next assessment might be," Whitehead said.
"We're looking at, probably, a 30 per cent increase."
If the city-wide average is 10 per cent, that could hand Whitehead a steep 15 per cent increase in his property tax bill. Unlike Ward 3 and 4, which have come in below the city-wide assessment increases, he said, Ward 8 bears extra burden when new city programs start.
In 2007, the city-wide average assessment (using 2005 MPAC data) is $205,700 which brings a tax bill of $3,071.
Taxes on an average home range from $1,835 in Ward 3, to $4,425 in Ward 12, for Ancaster homes with transit.
Whitehead, who says MPAC needs to be fixed by changing taxes only with a house sale, says today's system hurts seniors on fixed incomes, who can see their taxes rise with market value.
rfaulkner@thespec.com
905-526-2468
Tax time
Value changes 2005-07 for average homes, in data from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington. If MPAC data matches the realtors' data, areas to expect tax rises will be Hamilton East, Hamilton Mountain, Dundas and Ancaster. Other areas will be stable, with a drop in Stoney Creek. City-wide average: $208,816 to $231,491 (+10%) Hamilton Centre: $118,236 to $130,719 (+10%) Hamilton East: $150,926 to $169,149 (+11%) Hamilton Mountain: $197,717 to $221,448,719 (+11%) Hamilton West: $203,815 to $227,590 (+10%) Ancaster: $341,748 to $381,760 (+10.5%) Dundas: $263,771 to $297,464 (+11%) Flamborough: $385,628 to $427,656 (+10%) Waterdown: $288,060 to $318,074 (+10%) Stoney Creek: $234,731 to $255,914 (+8%) How property tax works Property tax assessments are supposed to be revenue-neutral: they shift a tax burden from house to house, but don't net a city more overall money. Say the City of Hamilton wants to raise $1 billion. It finds the total value of all taxable properties in the city, its tax base. A tax rate is the number the city has to multiply this tax base by to get the $1 billion it needs. When assessed value changes, so does your share of that $1 billion. If you rise above the average increase -- which acts like a zero-point -- you pay more. Below it, you pay less.