Selwyn Council received an update on housing assessment’s and property tax calculations from Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) during Tuesday afternoon’s council meeting.
During the update, Sarah Groves, account manager for MPAC told council that when assessing homes, there are four key players:
- The provincial government: responsible for setting assessment expectation legislation and policies
- MPAC: role is to determine the current value assessment and classification for all properties in Ontario.
- Municipalities: Determine revenue requirements, set and collect tax rates pay for municipal services
- Property Owners: Pay property taxes for community services and education taxes to help fund elementary and secondary schools in Ontario
Groves stated that the transactions property sellers and purchasers make inform MPAC’s current value assessments.
The Buckhorn and Area Lions Club hosted their annual Corvette and Classic Car Show which included a Fall Colour Tour which stopped in Kinmount on Saturday. While in Kinmount John Austin made a historical presentation of the Austin Mill. Pictured above is Lion Janet Clarkson with Lion Andy Hing Hanging around Jeff Chesher’s corvette.
Selwyn will be considering a home retrofit loan program as part of their 2025 Capital budget.
During the Tuesday afternoon council meeting, Selwyn councilors received an update from Gaby Kalapos, the executive director at Clean Air Partnership (CAP) about a study that was done earlier in the year on home energy use in the township.
According to a report to council by Parys Carr, acting sustainability coordinator, the township partnered with the
CAP and Grey County to apply to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Community Efficiency Financing Program. They were successful and CAP commenced the study earlier this year.
CAP presented the findings of the study at council on Tuesday with updates highlighting the energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, job creation and local economic development opportunity in Selwyn Township.
Douro-Dummer council received a report at the Tuesday, October 1 council meeting suggesting the township host a Town Hall meeting in November.
Mayor Heather Watson proposed the community meeting stating that the event will strengthen relationships between council, staff and the community.
Watson said that this meeting would compliment other community engagement events taking place in the township this Fall. The other meetings include the Health Care Town Hall meeting on November 13th at the Douro Community Centre and County Tourism Round Table to be held on October 28th at the Douro Community Centre.
The proposal suggested that all of council be in attendance as well as senior management. The idea is that residents will be offered an informal opportunity to connect with council members, the new Township CAO and Department Managers on a one-to-one basis.
This short documentary is a portrait of a tiny town, Lakefield, Ontario, and its independent weekly, the Herald. Across North America, newspapers are dying, but in Lakefield, Terry McQuitty, the town paper’s publisher, carries on a rich, 150-year-old tradition. Set to the pace of small-town life, Unheralded is a testament to the vital role newspapers can still play, and the close bond between reporter and reader.
