Councillors tell MPAC about voter list problems
By ALAN LICZYK Staff Reporter

The main concern Caledon council members raised with representatives from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation last Tuesday was people being left off the voters list in the last municipal election.

MPAC handled the data collection for the election by mailing out 2.4 million municipal enumeration forms, but less than 40 per cent were returned. Less than 60 per cent of property owners and less than 30 per cent of tenants returned an occupancy questionnaire.

Greg Baxter, account manager, municipal relations, explained MPAC doesn't have access to government data bases to obtain missing names and it doesn't have direct access to citizenship information. Through a partnership with Elections Canada, MPAC can confirm some citizenship information and obtain some missing birth date information.

Baxter added MPAC provided all municipalities a preliminary list of electors July 31 and then a supplementary list of electors in September and October.

Councillor Allan Thompson said those voters lists "drove us nuts" and there was a lot of frustration. He added the MPAC mailings didn't explain it well enough and a lot of people didn't realize they were doing an election list.

"It was badly managed from day one," Thompson said.

While he didn't place all the blame on MPAC, he said it should take some of it.

Councillor Annette Groves noted she wasn't on the voters list and it was frustrating for many residents.

Councillor Doug Beffort said there's a gap in the rolls and MPAC needs to work closely with the Town's clerk's office. He pointed out there were residents in Inglewood who weren't on the voters list for more than a year.

Councillor Richard Paterak noted voting participation has been dropping and they have to make it easier for people to vote.

Councillor Gord McClure said in his neighbourhood there were a lot of mistakes on the voters list. Some people who were deceased were still on the list.

Baxter replied it comes down to access to information and MPAC doesn't have access to births and deaths.

Caledon clerk Cheri Cowan said the Town is working closely with MPAC. She explained on a weekly basis she goes through the death notices in the local newspapers. The information is only as good as residents gives them, she said.

Mayor Marolyn Morrison said she was shocked that Cowan has to go through the death notices to take a person off the voters list.

MPAC is also responsible for assessing more than 4.5 million properties using current value assessment which is the price a property might be reasonably expected to sell for in its current condition on the open market. MPAC prepares and delivers 445 municipal assessment rolls every December.

In 2006, the provincial government cancelled the 2006 and 2007 provincewide assessment updates. An update will be done in 2008 for the 2009 taxation year using a valuation date of Jan. 1, 2008.

There were about one million property assessment notices mailed out in 2006 to property owners if there was a change in ownership of the property, school support had changed, there was a change in value as the result of a request for reconsideration or an Assessment Review Board decision, there was a change in the property that will either increase or decrease its value such as an addition or the removal of a garage, or if a new structure was built.

Property owners who believe their assessed value isn't accurate can complete a free request for reconsideration by Dec. 31, 2007, or they can file a notice of complaint with the Assessment Review Board by April 2, 2007, but with a fee attached.

In 2006, MPAC assessed 20,798 properties in Caledon with a total assessed value of $8.4 billion. There were 431 requests for reconsideration filed and 155 notices of complaint filed with the Assessment Review Board.

People can contact MPAC by calling 1-866- 296-6722, or e-mailing enquiry@mpac.ca. Its Web site is www.mpac.ca. The local office is located at 6745 Century Ave. in Mississauga.