Property tax hearings not public

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

On a Tuesday in November, the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal in Guelph held 14 hearings to determine if a number of property owners were eligible for the farm property tax class. The notices were accidentally posted on the Tribunal website and quickly removed.

The hearings were closed and the decisions aren't made public. That has been the practice of the Tribunal for the past almost 10 years, since it has had jurisdiction over the farm property tax class appeals.Tribunal chair Kirk Walstedt says by email that the farm tax class hearings usually involve only the landowner when financial matters and other personal information are discussed. About 35 to 40 property tax class appeals are heard annually. Walstedt adds that two thirds of appeals were granted in the past two years. 

"It's up to the Tribunal to determine that certain hearings are not open to the public," writes Susan Murray, Ontario agriculture ministry spokesperson, in an email. Under legislation governing the Tribunal, it can set its own practices and procedures. However, Murray adds that the farm property tax class decisions can be requested under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.Bette Jean Crews, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, says it should be the farmers' choice to share the information or not. "People may well not want even the decisions shared," she says.

Crews says the main concern the federation has heard from farmers about the farm property tax class rate is from beginning farmers, because they can't meet the gross income criteria for their first year. BF