Property assessment woes: mayors seek answers in private session
Bonnie James
Local Journalism Initiative
Published February 12, 2025.
LITCHFIELD – The Council of Mayors (CoM) held a special private meeting at the MRC headquarters in Litchfield, January 28, to hear expert opinions on the property evaluation process, particularly the comparative factor, and municipal shares. The mayors, Warden, Tim Ferrigan, MRC director of property assessment; and Terry Lafleur, MRC assistant director general, attended. The meeting was closed to other municipal officials, media, and the public, so the Journal spoke to some of the mayors and the Warden after the meeting.
Expert evaluator Charles Lapoutre gave a similar presentation to what he presented at the public meeting in Alleyn-et-Cawood (AC) in December. He explained the problems of using the comparative factor in years two versus three of the assessment roll, giving the example of two properties in AC where the value skyrocketed in those years due to the comparative factor, and then returned to a normal, expected level in the first year of the following triennial roll.
Lapoutre also explained the concept of neighbourhoods in property evaluations and how they can be used to recognize differences in properties based on things like infrastructure, thus giving a more fair and accurate evaluation. He also explained the idea of ROW (Relative Overall Weight) for weighting municipalities based on available services and
infrastructure and calculating shares based on this ranking.
Carl Provencher, Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM) evaluator, spoke about changes to the provincial evaluation framework recognizing the difference between the sale of vacant lots and homes in the property evaluation process. New rules aim to give evaluators the ability to recognize and correct abnormal increases based on certain guidelines like
a minimum required number of residential property sales before using the
comparative factor.
Gerry Labelle, former MRC accountant, spoke about municipal shares, showing what they would be with and without using the comparative factor. He noted municipalities with hospitals and/or schools receive provincial funding.
The mayors said the meeting was informative, with many questions and discussions.
AC Mayor Carl Mayerobjected to Ferrigan calling Lapoutre a “lobbyist for AC” during
the meeting, stating he was there to provide an expert opinion, not to lobby for
the municipality.
MRC Warden Jane Toller said the issue needs to be examined further and the Budget Committee, comprised of Mayors Corey Spence (chair), Warden Toller, Donald Gagnon, Christine Francoeur, Doris Ranger, Edward Walsh, Odette Godin and Sandra Armstrong,
will continue to explore the topic, considering options like the ROW in calculating
municipal shares.
