December 09, 2005 - Glebe Report

eIbo report
9, 2005 Va 35 No. 11
Serving the Glebe community since 1973
FREE
GROUND MAY BE SHIFTING
UNDER PROPERTY
TAX ASSESSMENT:
present system finds no friends at
recent GCA meeting
BY JOHN SMART
Is the political ground shifting under the Ontario system of linking local
municipal taxes to provincially determined property assessments? Numerous
politicians, locally and across Ontario, have declared the system to be dysfunctional.
A Glebe Community Association resolution in October &ailed
provincial property tax reform "a priority." The provincial New Democratic
Party now has a Task Force on Property Assessment. In October, the provincial
ombudsman agreed to study the system for elements of unfairness. Large
public meetings in different Ottawa wards this fall have given the system a
rough ride.
The Glebe is no different. On Nov. 29, 110 Glebe residents attended a public
meeting on property tax assessments and tax increases sponsored by the
Glebe Community Association (GCA) at the Glebe Community Centre. No
one attending the meeting spoke up for the present system and many residents
told stories of unfounded increases in the assessments of their homes by the
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). They also reported difficulties
in getting MPAC to revise its assessments. The meeting, chaired by
the GCA president, June Creelman, opened with a comprehensive presentation
on the workings of the present system by two MPAC representatives:
Marcel Clement, municipal relations representative, and Sharon Tallon-
Goulet, manager of customer service. Clement and Talion-Goulet did an excellent
job of describing the present MPAC system and its operations, but apparently
failed to convince the audience that the present system deserved support.
The MPAC presentation was followed by a panel of speakers, consisting of
Councillor Clive Doucet, longtime Glebe resident Herb Weber and urban historian
John Taylor. Herb Weber (who was recently successful in obtaining a
significant reduction in the original assessment of his home) said that he
found MPAC "highhanded, slow and inefficient" in his dealings with them.
Weber says that homeowners need to get accurate information about their
property's market value from the real estate market and that they would be
well-advised to work with neighbours on joint complaints. They must also get
all the information MPAC has to offer about why the assessment is set where
it is and be prepared to offer MPAC "workable reasons for objecting." He finally
offered a nine-point "self-defence guide for the assessment battle," of
which point seven reads, in part: "Assume that MPAC will not agree with
you. File a complaint with the Assessment Review Board."
Photo: Clyde Sanger
Stéphane Sauvé, manager of the Glebe Meat Market
In a pickle over rules on meat
BY CLYDE SANGER
Stéphane Sauvé, the handsome young manager of the Glebe Meat Market,
sat on a church bench just inside his family store on Bank Street, fluttered the
edges of the 100-page regulations on meat processing and inspection in the
Food Safety and Quality Act 2001, and said very gently: "We are in a pickle.
Is this an attempt to push us out of business?"
I am afraid it could mean that. Stéphane and his parents, André and Simone,
the owners, are faced with two unpleasant options. Either they spend
between $300,000 and $500,000 in extensions and re-equipment to become
a full-scale meat processing plant under these new regulations, or else they
give up all the products they now process and sell, and lose about half their
profits. The Ontario government offers them a $25,000 grant towards such
upgrading, but Stéphane says that, even if they could raise that capital, "reequipping
wouldn't necessarily increase volume, so how do they expect us to
survive?"
Either way, the Glebe Meat Market, a respected asset of our community
since the Faith Brothers began it in 1918 at 793 Bank Street (the home now
of Glebe Side Kids), may have to close down within the next year.
cont'd on pg 13
ALL CANDIDATES MEETING
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
7:30 p.m.
at the Glebe Community Centre
WHAT'S INSIDE
Abbotsford 2 L'Amicale 23
Editorial 4 Holiday feature 24-27
Elections 6-9 Art 28
GCA 10 Music 29
Dates to remember
December 11 - [Amicale meeting, GCC
December 14 - 7 - 9 p.m. Open House - Drainage
Study for Glebe north of Fourth Avenue, GCC
December 15 - Extended deadline for "Babies of
the Glebe" photos - see inside for more details
December 24 - 7:30 GCA meeting, GCC
GNAG 11 Gift feature 30-31
Good Old Days 12 School news 33-38
Glebe Questions 13 Books 39-41
Councillor Doucet 16 Religion 44-46
Business News 18-20 Grapevine 47
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