Muskoka Watershed Council eBulletin

A G E N D A

1. Welcome & Call to Order by the President
2. Minutes of last meeting – May 17, 2009
3. Financial Statements
4. Membership Report
5. Address by Michael Hart – Director MLA-Muskoka Lakes Association
6. Election of Officers
7. Any Other Business
8. Adjournment

2009/2010 Executive
Russ Black
Ian Cook
Jamie MacFarlane
Pat McFarlane
Mary Sedgewick
Chris Sherk
Stu Snyder

1.  Welcome and Call to Order:

     President, Ian Cook called the meeting to order and welcomed the cottagers present.

2.  Minutes of the 2008 AGM:

     Mary Sedgewick read the minutes of the last AGM.

MOTION:  Moved by Russ Black and seconded by Chris Sherk that the minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Tri-Island Residential Group held on May 18, 2008 at Indian Head Harbour Marina be adopted as read.  Carried. 

3.  Financial Statements:

MOTION:   Moved by Stu Snyder and seconded by Pat McFarlane that the financial statements for 2008 be accepted as presented.  Carried.

David Sylvester questioned whether membership fees should be increased from the current $25.  The President informed David that this suggestion had already been raised and would be discussed at the next meeting of the Board of Directors.

4.  Membership:

Chris Sherk reported that 69 membership renewals had been received to date for 2009.  There were a total of 110 in the previous year, which was 60% of the total cottage properies on the three islands.

MOTION:  Moved by Chris Sherk and seconded by Jerry Rose that the by-laws be amended to state that by joining the TIRG a member was in agreement to allowing his name and address to be published in a printed membership directory.  Carried.

     The President informed the meeting that the Executive were planning to do a marina and individual cottage dock drop to encourage more members to join.

5.  Website and Data Base:

     Mary Sedgewick reported on the Association website that was now up and running- tri-island.ca and ideas for an awareness campaign were discussed.   The website is posted on any communications sent out.

     Jerry Rose suggested selling advertising on the site to increase hits and to possibly generate some revenue.  This idea was referred to the Executive Committee for consideration.

     Chris Sherk suggested posting the local weather each day,as was currently being done on other websites.  President Ian Cook agreed to follow up on this.

     Kathy MaGee Hayman undertook to call realtors, Iris and Jim Gardiner to see if they would share their cottage owners list with us.  If they were agreeable, this may eliminate the tedious job of our Communications Director, Mary Sedgewick going through the public records at the tax office to compile an up-to-date list. 

6.  Election of Directors:

MOTION:  Moved by Stu Snyder and seconded by Jerry Rose that the following TIRG slate of Directors be accepted for 2009-

Russ Black, Ian Cook, Jamie MacFarlane, Pat McFarlane, Mary Sedgewick, Chris Sherk and Stu Snyder.  Carried.

7.  McVittie Nature Reserve

     Russ Black reported that in 2008 only minor work had been necessary on the walking paths.  However, they currently require some maintenance and the Executive had agreed to hire Adam Archer of Muskoka Cottage Service to clear the walking paths.

     The objective is to have all the paths located within the nature reserve.  In September of 2008, an inspection of the paths had been done, and in some areas the paths are outside the reserve on privately owned cottage property.  This needs to be addressed and would necessitate the creation of some new paths and possible boardwalks in low areas.  Eventually there will be a completely circular path all around the Island, well  marked and all contained within the nature reserve boundaries. 

     Sandy Tulloch is ready to mark the paths with the offically accepted trail markers used by the Canadian Trail Association.  She needs help to do this.  Kathy and Mary both volunteered to help with this.  Sandy is the TIRG representative on the Heritage Trust.  Members meet once a year at a mutually convenient date during the summer convened by Don McVittie.  Mary and Pat will contact Sandy to get an update and to invite her to the next  TIRG Executive meeting.

    Russ Black encouraged everyone to become a member of the Muskoka Heritage Association.

8.  Any Other Business:

     It was noted that pollution no longer appeared to be such a pressing concern to cottagers.  Unofficially, the water quality of Lake Muskoka appears to be improving.  Air, light and noise pollution were not a big concern, although it was noted David Sylvester did find the noise from the diesel engines of the “Lady Muskoka” tour boat offensive.

9.  Adjournment:

MOTION:  Moved by Ian Cook and seconded by Jerry Rose that the meeting  be adjourned.  Carried.

Over the next few months, all Ontario property owners will receive their 2008 assessment notices.

The impact of any assessment-related increase or decrease in property tax will be reflected in the second half of your 2009 tax bill. When you open your assessment notice, you will learn what your increase is, and how it compares to the average increase for your municipality.

By going to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) website, www.mpac.ca, you can now get a detailed profile report on your property as well as that of your neighbours. If there are errors in the profile report or if you simply believe your assessment is too high, you may want to file a Request for Reconsideration (RFR). This must be done by March 31, 2009. (The deadline is unfortunately before you know the tax impact of the new assessment.)

The deadlines for filing both RFRs and appeals have changed. Also you must file an RFR if you subsequently want to file an appeal to the Assessment Review Board. If you are unsatisfied with the response to the RFR and decide to appeal this must be done within 90 days of receiving MPAC’s response to your RFR.

How do you estimate the impact of the 2008 assessment on your 2009 taxes? It’s not easy. If you are in a single tier municipality and your increase exceeds the average municipal increase, you will have an assessment-related tax increase. If you are in a municipality which is part of an upper tier district or region you will not have the information available to determine the impact of the new assessment on your tax bill.

Also, remember that around one-third of your tax bill covers education. The impact on the education portion of your tax depends on how your assessment increase compares with the provincial average increase. Having said all of that, those on waterfront and in inner city areas, in most cases will experience an assessment-related tax increase as well as their share of the actual spending increase for their municipality. We know this because these are the areas which experienced the greatest jumps in real estate value over the past three years.

There is a bit of good news. Under the new provincial rules, the assessment increase you receive will be phased in over the next four years. As a result, the tax impact of the increase will, in effect, be paid in instalments over the years 2009 through 2012. You will not be assessed again until 2011. This makes it essential that you make every effort to get your assessment reduced if you feel you have good cause to do so.

What lies ahead?
CAPTR and WRAFT continue to believe that the Ontario tax system is highly flawed and unfair to thousands of property owners who are victimized simply by the location on which their properties exist.

We will continue to lobby for a limit to be placed on assessment increases in order to reduce the volatility and unpredictability inherent in the existing assessment/property tax regime in Ontario. This has consistently been our objective and while we have yet to achieve it we have made some tangible progress. We can take some credit, along with the Ombudsman, for the two year freeze in assessments in 2006 and 2007. That, combined with the new four year phase-in, will have saved an average of in excess of $1000 for each waterfront property owner. The higher your assessment, the greater your probable saving. We do not have information available to make a similar calculation for urban dwellers.

You can help us in our efforts to make the Ontario Government listen:
Sign our petition on CAPTR.org or WRAFT.com. We’ll take it to Queen’s Park when we have sufficient numbers. Visit your MPP and tell him or her that the system is broken. Show your MPP your new assessment. If you have received a major assessment hike, and you believe your taxes will be impacted, send us the details. We need examples of the hardship created by the present system in order to drive the message home with the present government.

WRAFT Annual Meeting
WRAFT will hold its Annual Meeting at 3:00 PM on November 22, 2008, at the Sheraton Parkway North Hotel (Highway 7 and 404) immediately following the FOCA Annual Meeting at the same location. You will have received your assessments by then. At the meeting, we plan to strongly express our views about the inequities in the system. Please plan to attend. All recipients of this report are invited to the meeting. We want to send the strongest possible message to Queens Park that the property tax system is broken and is creating financial stress for large numbers of Ontario property owners.

On behalf of CAPTR – Bob Topp
On behalf of WRAFT – Terry Rees
Media Contact: Jim Deeks
Phone 416-689-8421
Email: jdeeks@primarycounsel.com
FOCA is a Founding Member of WRAFT
www.foca.on.ca

In the past, environmental issues seem to have been the focus of the executive committee with water, air, noise and light pollution being discussed at different times. The increasing cottage tax rate seems to be a subject that resonates with everyone as well.

In that regard we joined with Browning Island and McVittie Island associations to jointly protest the position that all property owners in the District should be assessed equally, based on property value. A debt, in excess of $100 million, was incurred mostly to build sewer and water facilities for town folk and the plan is to unload the liability on all tax payers. Given that island residents did not benefit from the investment and that we share a disproportionate larger share of the assessed property value in the District, we took the position that this was unfair and that another assessment scenario should be considered.

We are not supported by approximately half the residents of the three islands. TIRG fees were due earlier in the summer and for those who have not paid the $25 annual levy, please do so immediately. Readers who know non-members might encourage membership by forwarding a copy of the application that is sent out each year. We will be targeting non-members via a dock distribution piece to encourage more membership early in the 2009 season. Please help us carry-on our work by supporting the effort through payment of the fee.

If you missed the news earlier in the year at our annual general meeting, we commissioned and completed a survey which is being distributed to all members. The map is valuable as it identifies the legal boundary and the 911 emergency codes for each member’s property, something very important at the time of an emergency.

We have established an electronic data base of all members and all non-members, thanks to the work of Sarah Sherk.

We continue to work at establishing an internet web site to communicate better with TIRG members.

Finally, I would like to bring to you attention the work of the Federation of Ontario Cottage Associations (FOCA). FOCA represents the interests of cottagers in Ontario through advocacy groups including the Water Guardian Network, Well Wise, Firesmart and various lobby initiatives. For anyone interested in learning more on environmental issues or taking a more proactive role FOCA would be a great place to start.

Wishing you all the best and hoping for a dry finish to the wettest summer on record.

1. Minutes:
Minutes of the last Executive meeting and minutes of the Annual General meeting were read.
Moved by Stu Snyder and seconded by Ian Cook to accept the minutes of the Executive Meeting held on May 17th 2008 and the minutes of the Annual General meeting held on May 18th 2008. Motion carried.

2. Membership Report:
Sarah Sherk gave a membership update. She had spent long hours in the Bracebridge registry office and has updated the complete list of cottagers. This list will be sent out to all current members along with a map of the tri-islands.

Email has not proved an effective way to contact cottages, since the addresses change so frequently, and many do not even have Email. So communication has to be done by both Email and regular mail.

To date only 60 renewals have been received. On June 18th a reminder was sent to the approximately 159 non-paid up cottagers, which to date has not produced many renewals. There was discussion on how to increase the membership numbers. Mary Sedgewick agreed to deliver a request letter and membership form to each cottage, leaving it as a “dock drop”.

3. Newsletter:
It was agreed to prepare a short newsletter to send out before the end of July with the new cottager list and map. Ian Cook agreed to produce the newsletter which would contain a message from the President and information supplied by Russ Black on the McVittie nature reserve – its history and current status.

4. Communications Director:
It was noted we currently have no-one on the Executive designated for the position of Communications .

5. Slate of Officers:
Moved by Chris Sherk and seconded by Russ Black that the following slate of officers of the Executive Committee by accepted:- Ian Cook (President), Jamie MacFarlane (Vice-President), Stu Snyder (Treasurer), Chris Sherk (Membership) Pat McFarlane (Secretary) Motion carried.

6. Next Executive Meeting:
Stu Snyder requested that future meetings be scheduled in the mornings and not be held on holiday weekends. Next meeting to be held on Sunday August 17th 2008 at 10:00 a.m.

7. Adjournment:
Moved by Ian Cook and seconded by Stu Snyder that the meeting be adjourned. Motion carried.