Maintaining connections with our partners
On June 24, we held a regular meeting of our Municipal Liaison Group (MLG) to share updates on how we continue to respond to COVID-19 and provide the services and stability municipalities rely on. We thank our MLG members for their time and valuable input into our work.

Here are the highlights of what we shared with the group.

Returning to property inspections

Beginning June 15, we resumed exterior property inspections in the communities served by MPAC field offices in Kingston, Hamilton, Barrie and Timmins.

We have new guidelines and practices to ensure we can complete property inspections safely:

  • Before beginning any inspections, employees are required to complete mandatory personal protective equipment training and a daily COVID-19 self-assessment.

  • They’ll strictly observe health and safety guidelines around physical distancing when conducting exterior inspections.

  • If our inspectors encounter property owners during their work, they will identify themselves and interact if needed from a safe distance.

This gradual start has allowed us to make sure the protocols are working and ensure we are fully prepared to return to serving all municipalities. So far, everything is going well and the feedback on site from property owners has been supportive of the work we need to do. We will be looking to expand our field inspection activities across the province in the next two weeks.

Mailing of in-year notices

We are mailing all in-year notices as scheduled, including Post Roll Ammended Notices (PRANs), Advisory Notice of Adjustments (ANAs), Special Amended Notices (SANs), Tax Incentive Approval Letters (TIAs) and Property Assessment Change Notices (PACNs).

We mailed our first set of PACNs in May and sent notices to another 5,000 property owners in early June. Notices mailed so far this year represent a total of $14-billion in new assessment across Ontario.

Enhancements to WorkSight

In May, we introduced new functionality that allows municipal staff to submit electronic building plans through WorkSight in Municipal Connect . This is an important source of information we need to assess new construction. To date, more than 80 lower and single-tier municipalities have submitted electronic building plans through WorkSight.

This month, we also exposed building permits in WorkSight, which gives municipal staff the ability to track permits and issuance of related Property Assessment Change Notices.
Request for Reconsideration deadlines
Due to the emergency declared by the Ontario government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, deadlines to file a Request for Reconsideration (RfR) for the 2020 property tax have been extended.

Property owners should check the RfR deadline printed on the notice they receive from MPAC and refer to mpac.ca for the most current deadline extensions .
Upcoming municipal webinars
MPAC Products: An overview of the MCP, EAI and Control Totals report available to assist with municipal planning and analysis

Do you work in property taxation and finance, or municipal planning? If so please join MPAC’s subject matter experts Janet Rombis, Product Management Specialist, and Natasha Dawood, Regional Manager, for an overview of the products available to municipalities virtually through the Sightline portal of MPAC’s Municipal Connect application. This session will focus specifically on three products used for planning and assessment base management: the Electronic Assessment Information (EAI) file, Municipal Change Profile (MCP) and Control Totals report.
Date: Wednesday, July 8
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 P.M. EDT
You can find a recording of last month’s webinar on Municipal Connect, along with all our monthly municipal webinars, on our YouTube channel .
New look and feel for mpac.ca
We’ve refreshed our website with a focus on making information clear and easy to find for property owners, while also providing a section that clearly supports the information needs of our municipal partners.

Property owners can quickly find out about our work by searching a section called Understanding Your Assessment , and a new section called Making Changes and Updates makes it easier for Ontarians to find out how to do things like change their school support.

We’ve also made our tools easy to access with login links to AboutMyProperty and Municipal Connect right at the top of the homepage .
MPAC has closed about 200 outstanding permits in Algoma District during the pandemic and implemented a new process with the City of Sault Ste. Marie to keep the momentum going as things begin to return to normal.

The information MPAC required to process the permits was gathered through digital imagery, previous assessment notes and information provided by the City’s Building Division, including measurements.

“By working together we have been able to clean up many minor outstanding permits, and we’ve created a process that will help us continue this work,” says Lisa Petrocco, Manager of Taxation. “MPAC now sends us a weekly list of information requests and we’re also getting ready to share building plans through a curbside pickup program and eventually submit them electronically through WorkSight.”

Do you have a great story about our partnerships in action?  Share it with us .
MPAC Holiday Closure

MPAC (including customer service support) will be closed from Wednesday, July 1 through Friday, July 3, 2020. We will reopen on Monday, July 6, 2020.