Chatham-Kent council chambers were packed on Monday night, with the agricultural community coming out in force to urge council not to raise the farm tax ratio.
It was a successful move, as council decided to keep the farm tax ratio at 22 percent, rather than hiking it to 23 percent. Council voted not to increase the ratio by a 10-7 vote.
Looking at adjusting the farm tax ratio, as well as other tax rations is a part of an annual exercise the municipality does in setting their tax policy.
Chatham-Kent has one of the lowest farm tax ratios in the province, as the majority of municipalities and regions in the province (over 80 percent) have a farm tax ratio of 25 percent, however some municipalities with lower ratios have high value assessments and high-value farmland, such as Chatham-Kent and Lambton County.
Deputations to council noted that with no Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) assessments done since 2016, council should table the issue and wait and review the situation again after the next assessment cycle is complete in the next couple of years.
Long-time Kent Federation of Agriculture executive member Jay Cunningham said the issue of raising the farm tax ratio keeps coming back to Chatham-Kent council, but without a recent MPAC assessment it’s hard to get an accurate read about what the impact will be to farmers.
He said groups like KFA will have to continuously educate Chatham-Kent staff and councillors about the impact of raising the farm ratio on the local agricultural community.
