Committee Report. Report FR-CW Recommendation. Background

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1 Report FR-CW Committee Report To: Warden Barfoot and Members of Grey County Council From: Kevin Weppler, Director of Finance Meeting Date: April 13, 2017 Subject: Apportionment of County Levy Status: Recommendation adopted by Committee as presented per Resolution CW-61-17; Endorsed by County Council April 27, 2017 per Resolution CC19-17; Also see Resolution CW-63-17; Recommendation 1. That Report FR-CW regarding the Apportionment of County Levy be received and that Grey County not proceed with requesting the services of the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator regarding the apportionment of the County s annual levy. Background The Town of The Blue Mountains requested in its letter dated February 17, 2017 (attached), that the County join the Town in writing its own letter to the Honorable Bill Mauro, Minister of Municipal Affairs for the Province of Ontario, with a copy to the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator, asking that the services of the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator be engaged to assist the Town of The Blue Mountains and Grey County by facilitating discussions between the two municipalities with a view to finding solutions to resolve existing disagreement between the Town and the County regarding the Town s share of the County s annual levy. This report provides County Council with a general overview on the Provincial policy context surrounding the apportionment of upper-tier levy amounts. The County sought the assistance of Municipal Tax Equity (MTE) Consultants Inc. This consultant provides tax policy and advice to support municipal finance staff in accordance with complex provincial legislation, and assists the County and its local municipalities with annual tax capping calculations. The attached report prepared by MTE provides core thoughts and observations surrounding the apportionment of upper-tier levy amounts. The following is extracted from MTE s report and summarizes the apportionment of upper-tier levy. Section 289 and 311 of the Municipal Act does contain specific direction as to how the upper-tier levy shall be allocated to local municipalities.

2 First, the County s general levy is defined as the amount the upper-tier municipality decided to raise in its budget for the year under section 289 on all rateable property in the upper-tier municipality, meaning that the levy will apply to all properties. Second, subsection 311(3) states that the upper-tier must set rates, which will be applied to each local municipality on all property assessable for upper-tier purposes. The implication of these two provisions is that the rates will be calculated and therefore the taxes distributed across the County based on the distribution of assessment. This is further supported and codified by the restrictions set out in that section, which state: 1. The rates must be set so that, when they are levied on the applicable assessment rateable for upper-tier purposes, an amount equal to the general upper-tier levy or special upper-tier levy, as the case may be, is raised. 2. The rates on the different classes of property must be in the same proportion to each other as the tax ratios established under section 308 for the property classes are to each other. 3. The rate for each class of property must be the same for each lower-tier municipality. In all, section 311 is actually quite explicit in setting out how the general upper-tier levy is to be raised and while it doesn t have a sentence that says each local municipality shall pay X share, it doesn t have to. The rules and restrictions that are contained in this section of the Municipal Act leave no other option than to allocate the County levy on the basis of assessment distribution. Ontario municipalities have options for varying the distribution of the tax burden among different groups or types of properties (tax ratios, sub-class discounts, optional classes, etc.). There is no provision for an upper-tier municipality to allocate the general levy in a different distribution other than assessment. To apportion the County s general levy in another method such as by geographical boundaries, would require the Province to make significant changes to the Municipal Act, and these changes would have impacts on properties all across Ontario. County staff does not believe there is any benefit in meeting with the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator regarding the Town s share of the County s annual levy as the Municipal Act is prescriptive on how the County s annual levy is to be apportioned. What is role of provincial facilitator and how has this office been used in other places? The Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator was created in The current provincial development facilitator is Ms. Paula Dill. As noted in the Land Use Planning section of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs website ( The Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator helps the province, municipalities, developers, businesses and community groups resolve issues related to growth management, land use and infrastructure planning, and environmental protection by providing impartial

3 facilitation services. The Provincial Land and Development Facilitator may also act as a negotiator on behalf of the Province on issues dealing with provincial land, assets or interests. Any individual, municipality or business can request facilitation assistance from the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator. Requests for assistance will be considered in the context of provincial objectives. General criteria for Provincial Land Development Facilitator involvement as a facilitator include: The request relates to ongoing, large-scale planning and/or development applications, infrastructure and/or environmental issues that are overarching in nature and may cross municipal boundaries and/or watersheds; The matter appears to fall under the mandate(s) of two or more provincial ministries and/or agencies; The matter arises out of the implementation of the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Provincial Policy Statement, the Greenbelt Plan, or other relevant provincial legislation, plans and/or policies. As an example of the Facilitator s role, in 2011 Ms. Dill provided advice to the Minister of Municipal Affairs relating to an amendment to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe specific to Simcoe County, Barrie and Orillia. In 2013 she assisted with boundary negotiations between the City of Brantford and the County of Brant. She has also prepared a report regarding zoning matters in Caledon and Peel Region. Financial/Staffing/Legal/Information Technology Considerations There are no financial, staffing, legal, or information technology considerations related to the acceptance of the recommendation in this report. If changes are contemplated by the Province in the apportionment of the County levy, this will have financial and legal impacts to the County, to local municipalities and to each individual property owner. Link to Strategic Goals/Priorities Goal 2: Improve the physical, operational and virtual connections between Grey County s municipalities and areas beyond to strengthen communities and improve the quality of life for residents.

4 Attachments and Background Information Letter from the Blue Mountains Motion to Facilitate Discussion Attachment to FR-CW MTE - Upper-Tier Levy Apportionment General Overview of Policy Framework, Options and Limitations. Respectfully submitted by, Kevin Weppler Director of Finance

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