Grey County eases tax burden for area farmers

Grey County council has voted in favour of easing tax payments for area farmers, while pushing the difference onto the residential tax base.

“This is not a proposal to reduce taxes on farmland, this is a proposal to limit the increases to farm properties. And, [a proposal] to let everyone share a little bit of an increase in order to reduce the taxes on farmland significantly,” said Brian Milne, deputy mayor of the Township of Southgate during the Grey County committee of the whole meeting held earlier today.

Property tax ratios are used to determine how a property class municipal tax rate compares with the residential tax rate, which is legislated to equal 1.0. The purpose of tax ratios is to manage the balance of taxation among properties based on their use or classification.

In a split vote (51-39), county council has decided to move the farm property tax ratio from 0.24 to 0.218.

In late February, the county received a delegation from the Grey County Federation of Agriculture, who pointed out that in order to maintain the current 2019 farm tax burden at 4.2 per cent, the county levy would require a reduced ratio to 0.218.

“I can’t think of a better time to support our hard-working farmers,” said Christine Robinson, mayor of the municipality of West Grey. “There are over 2,000 farms in Grey County and a reduction of farm tax ratio would be an investment in Grey County as a whole.”

Robinson added she felt the adjustment is appropriate and a responsible reduction that supports an investment in Grey County farming and acknowledges that the agri-food sector is the number one driver in the provincial economy.

Reducing the farm tax ratio to 0.218 will see $219,838 pushed into the other tax classes, each absorbing a 0.39 per cent increase.

Of that lump sum, $187,816 will come from the residential tax base, as Grey County does not have a significant commercial or industrial tax base to draw from. Currently, 74 per cent of the county tax assessment base is in the residential property class.

The Town of the Blue Mountains Mayor Alar Soever called for a counted vote on the motion, but did vote in favour of the tax ratio adjustment.

“I am happy to support this motion, even though our farmland is not as large as others in the county. Although, we do have a fairly large apple growing industry,” Soever added.