Assessment Review Board

Commission de révision de l’évaluation foncière

ISSUE DATE: December 23, 2019

FILE NO.: DM 163242

Assessed Person: D.K.

Applicant: D.K.

Respondent: City of Hamilton

Property Location: Withheld

Municipality: City of Hamilton

Roll Number: Withheld

Appeal Number: 3369566

Taxation Year: 2018

Hearing Event No.: 727166

Legislative Authority: Section 357(1)(d.1) of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, c. 25, as amended

MEMORANDUM OF AN INTERIM PROCEDURAL ORDER DELIVERED BY CAROLINE KING

INTRODUCTION

1D.K. (the “Applicant”) filed an application with the City of Hamilton (the “City”) to have his taxes reduced, cancelled or refunded because he was unable to pay the taxes levied in 2018 because of sickness or extreme poverty.

2This interim procedural order is issued in response to the Assessment Review Board (“Board”) receiving a written request submitted by the City on behalf of the Applicant to have the December 11, 2019 hearing adjourned. No additional submissions from the parties were requested.

3The request to adjourn the December 11, 2019 hearing was granted.

4The hearing for this application has been adjourned multiple times. This order is to direct the parties on the procedure to be followed in preparation of the next hearing. In addition, a significant amount of time has passed since the Applicant was first before the Board in July 2019. This order will refresh the Applicant’s memory about what the legal test is for the application, and the relevant required documentation.

Procedural History

First adjournment

5This matter was first scheduled to be heard on July 12, 2019, at which time the Applicant requested an adjournment as his wife had died in February 2019, and he needed more time to gather the required documentation as his wife was the individual responsible for organizing the household and finance documentation. The City consented to this request.

6The Applicant advised the Board that he required until October 2019 to gather up the documents.

7The Board granted the Applicant’s request and adjourned the hearing until October 2019.

Second adjournment

8The matter was scheduled to be heard in October 2019. The Applicant, with the City’s consent requested an additional adjournment.

9The Board administratively granted the Applicant’s request and adjourned the hearing until December 11, 2019.

Third adjournment

10The matter was scheduled to be heard on December 11, 2019, the Applicant requested that the hearing be adjourned yet again. The City consented to this request.

11The Board acknowledges that life after the loss of a spouse can be challenging, and can constitute an exceptional circumstance, which is why it has granted this adjournment request. However, the passage of time can also result in making it more challenging to gather relevant documentation and can negatively impact on any applicant’s ability to remember the key information required to be successful at such an application.

12The Board is willing to grant this adjournment request and to set the next hearing to a date agreed upon by both parties, however, the parties should not anticipate that the Board will grant any further adjournments.

APPLICANT TO PROVE

13The Applicant will be responsible for proving to the Board that they were unable to pay taxes because of sickness or extreme poverty at the next hearing. A failure to obtain and serve the documentation listed below at least 14 days before the next scheduled hearing may result in the dismissal of the application.

NO ADJOURNMENTS (RESCHEDULING HEARINGS) SHOULD BE EXPECTED

14Further adjournment requests to obtain missing documentation are unlikely to be granted except in exceptional circumstances, and the Board will consider only the documentation filed prior to the next hearing. As a result, compliance with this interim decision is very important.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

15Applicants will be expected to provide the following information relating to their income, expenses, assets, liabilities, and sickness, if applicable, for the 2018 tax year.

16Income: Evidence of 2018 income, from all sources of all the adults residing at the subject property in question needs to be provided. Examples of evidence of income are:

a. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Notices of Assessment, T4, T4A or T5 slips;

b. Records of receipt of support payments from persons outside the household;

c. Records of revenue from any items of property that were sold.

17Sources of income include employment income, commissions, tips, bonuses, self-employment income, workers compensation benefits, social assistance income (including ODSP payments), interest and investment income, pension income (including CPP and OAS), child tax benefits or tax rebates (including GST / HST), RRSP withdrawals and capital gains.

18Expenses: Evidence of monthly costs for December of 2017 through January of 2019 is required, including:

a. statements of payments and amounts owing on any loans, mortgages or lines of credit;

b. statements of charges for utilities, including heat, hydro, water, sewer, telephone, internet, cable, satellite, newspapers, magazines and online subscriptions;

c. property tax statements;

d. condominium fees;

e. any other household expenses;

f. transportation, including personal vehicle expenses, public transit or any other alternative transportation, including Uber or Lyft;

g. monthly cost of groceries and daily household expenses, meals outside the home, pet care, laundry and dry cleaning, preferably through receipts, direct debit or credit card receipts;

h. child care costs including babysitting;

i. insurance costs, such as life, extended health, property and auto insurance premiums; support payments; any court ordered payments or enforcement fees; and any other monthly charges incurred by the adult residents of the property.

j. evidence of any one-time costs during the under appeal such as house repairs, car repairs or legal fees; and

k. automatic deductions, such as CPP contributions, EI premiums, income taxes, employee pension contributions and union dues.

19Assets: Evidence of all assets is required including:

a. statements from all chequing accounts, savings accounts, any other accounts such as RRSP, RESP, non-registered and registered investments accounts and whole life insurance held by all residents of the property in 2018;

b. Business and interests and / or money owed to the residents of the subject property in 2018; and

c. Evidence of any other property that may have value such as any other real estate, recreational vehicles, boats, trailers, computers, jewelry, collections and the estimated value of each.

20Liabilities: Evidence of any money owing is required, for credit cards held by all residents of the property for December 2017 through January 2019, mortgages, lines of credit or other loans held by any person or company, outstanding credit card balances, unpaid support amounts and other debts;

21Sickness: Documentation is required to indicate the nature of the sickness of the Applicant or other resident of the property. In addition, the documentation from a medical practitioner shall indicate any impact any sickness may have regarding the Applicant’s ability to work during 2018.

DATES FOR THE DELIVERY OF DOCUMENTATION

22The Board directs the Parties as follows:

a. The Applicant shall deliver all of the documentation to be relied upon at the hearing to the City and the Board no later than 14 days before the next scheduled hearing date.

b. The City shall provide any response to the Applicant’s documentation to the Applicant and the Board no later than 7 days before the next scheduled hearing dates. This response shall include identification of any evidence or issues that the City is not disputing so that the hearing may be focused on matters that are in dispute.

23Please note that a failure to comply with this interim order may result in a dismissal of the application.