Outbid

Richard Hassefras | Nov 24, 2021

2021 has been a year of increases. More people are vaccinated, groceries are more expensive, and more people are flocking to South Frontenac. My family moved here from Loyalist Township in late 2020 after building a new home on a property acquired in 2019. During our build Covid_19 became a reality, but we were able to push through and reach completion. The next step was to invite MPAC on site to complete their property assessment. By May of 2021 our assessment arrived and we thought our taxes were established.

During the course of 2021 we began to see properties come up for sale on our private laneway. List prices were being exceeded by purchase prices by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Local area buyers were being outbid by bully offers from people coming from large urban centers. Purchases, sight unseen were driving up property values.

Recently MPAC has sent us a new property assessment increasing our property value by $187,000 which will substantially increase our property taxes. A representative of MPAC comforted me by saying our property could be sold for more. I reminded the individual that we intended to live here a long time and needed to be able to afford our taxes.

This Covid fueled, panic buying trend in migration will no doubt affect the pocket books of many people in the area. Financing things like laneway, hydro, and even road dues to maintain a private laneway has benefitted South Frontenac, enabling them to levy higher taxes. Now it seems MPAC has a new mechanism to further this trend.

Richard Hassefras