1441449 Ontario Inc. v. Town of Ajax, 2016 CanLII 82350

Assessment Review Board

Commission de révision de l’évaluation foncière

ISSUE DATE: November 24, 2016

FILE NO.: WR 137486

Assessed Person(s): 1441449 Ontario Inc.

Appellant(s): 1441449 Ontario Inc.

Respondent(s): Town of Ajax

Respondent(s): Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (“MPAC”) Region 13

Property Location(s): CON 3 PT LOT16, 17 AND PT ROAD ALLOWANCE BETWEEN LOT 16, 17 NOW RP4

Municipality(ies): Town of Ajax

Roll Number(s): 1805-010-011-20100-0000

Appeal Number(s): 3057152

Taxation Year(s): 2013

Hearing Event No. 601739

Legislative Authority: Section 357.(8) of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, c. 25, as amended

Heard: November 26, 2015 in Ajax, Ontario

APPEARANCES:

Parties

Representative

Town of Ajax

Susan Hewlett

1441449 Ontario Inc.

Evan Hovius

MPAC

Michael Cicciarella

DECISION OF THE BOARD DELIVERED BY MARK SPRAGGETT

INTRODUCTION

1This appeal came before the Assessment Review Board (“Board”) on November 26, 2015, in the Town of Ajax, as a result of a previous s. 357.(1) of the Municipal Act (“Act”) application, where Council did not make a decision on this matter pursuant to s. 357.(8) of the Act.

ISSUE

2The subject property is a 43.70 acre parcel of residential development land, wherein on July 31, 2013, the Owner/Appellant registered a Plan of Subdivision (PLAN 40M-2498) with the Municipality, conveying approximately 23.83 acres (54.53%) of the subject lands to the Town of Ajax.

3As the Appellant was taxed for the entire parcel for the 2013 tax year, an application pursuant to s. 357.1(c) of the Act wherein, “…the land has become exempt from taxation during the year ….”, was submitted on December 03, 2013, seeking a refund of a portion of the property taxes associated with the lands that were conveyed to the Municipality effective July 31, 2013, when the Plan of Subdivision was registered.

4The Appellant is seeking a tax rebate in the amount of $24,861, prorated based on 154 taxable days effective the registration date of July 31, 2013.

5The Town of Ajax credited the Appellant in the amount of $3,202.65, reflecting the apportionment of land taxes associated with the land parcel conveyed to the Municipality.

DECISION

6The Board finds that the Appellant is entitled to a refund of a portion of the 2013 taxes paid for 23.83 acres of land of the subject property.

7The Board, having heard the appeal and pursuant to s. 357.(10) of the Act, orders a refund of taxes in the amount of $24,861 minus the earlier refund amount of $3,202.65 having already been issued for the 2013 taxation year.

REASONS FOR DECISION

8The Board heard from Evan Hovius, the Appellant’s representative, that the conveyance of lands to the Municipality took place effective July 31, 2013. The Appellant, having paid the fully levied taxes ($108,061) for the 2013 tax bill, see Exhibit 2, is seeking a refund reflecting the conveyance of 54.53% of the lands to the Municipality effective July 31, 2013, pursuant to s. 357.(1) of the Act.

9Mr. Hovius submitted evidence to the Board in the form of a Report (Exhibit 1), explaining in detail the Appellant’s position for the appeal and how the requested refund amount was determined. The Board notes that for the 2013 taxation year, the 2012 Current Value Assessment as determined by MPAC is $8,346,000 with an “Assessment Per Acre” rate of $191,000 (rounded), applied to the land parcel, see Addendum ‘C’ for MPAC’s method used for the Residential Tax class. Mr. Hovius argues the rebate is calculated using the same method used by MPAC, however with the unrounded “Assessment Per Acre” value of $190,984 applied to the conveyed land parcel.

10Mr. Hovius stated that MPAC assessed the lands based on a consistent rate per acre for all the lands, and it is this same approach that is applied by the Appellant to determine the appropriate rebate/refund.

11Mr. Hovius cites Section E of the Report, illustrating the numerous lands that are owned by the Town of Ajax and exempt from taxation. Mr. Hovius maintains that although the Owner paid his 2013 taxes in full, he was no longer the Owner of those lands conveyed to the municipality as of July 31, 2013 and therefore should have returned to him those taxes on that portion of land that he no longer owns.

12The Town of Ajax, the Respondent, requested MPAC’s representative, Michael Cicciarella, to present the various “Severance Consolidation Plan Information Forms-MPAC” exhibits as evidence to the Board. The Town of Ajax argues that it uses an approach for the apportionment of land value for any lands conveyed to the municipality in conjunction with a plan of subdivision. Based on this approach, Susan Hewlett, a witness for the Town of Ajax, submitted to the Board the “Tax Notice-Apportionment (Division) Of Land Taxes” document, Exhibit 9, that was mailed to the Appellant, indicating a credit in the amount of $3,202.65 awarded to the Appellant as a rebate for the lands conveyed to the Town of Ajax. The Board notes that no explanation was provided to explain how the credit was determined using the method of apportionment. The Board notes that none of the exhibits provided by the Town of Ajax offer any illumination as to how the apportionment of land is used to address the value of the conveyed lands in this instance. For this reason, the Board cannot rely on the credit amount as representing an equitable adjustment of taxes for the land parcel conveyed by the Owner to the Town of Ajax.

13Mr. Hovius argued that the apportionment schedules presented by Mr. Cicciarella were not used by MPAC to value the property and that they are mainly for subdivision allocation, serving as an administrative function to apportion assessment values and are therefore not suitable to address taxes in this instance. Mr. Hovius submitted an earlier decision of the ARB, file No: WR 121285, dated November 07, 2013, between King North Developments CR Inc. v. King (Township) [2013] O.A.R.B.D. No. 265, for a similar appeal, noting that a decision favouring a tax rebate for the conveyance of lands to the Township of King, used the same method of prorating the amount of taxes as is argued by the Appellant in this instance.

CONCLUSION

14The Board finds the Appellant is entitled to a refund of taxes from July 31, 2013 to December 31, 2013, for the land parcel conveyed to the Town of Ajax and determines the amount of refund to be $24,861 less $3,202.65.