Southampton residents Donna and Terry Andrews who recently came before Saugeen Shores Town Council said at the outset that they were “… disappointed to be here as we thought this would have been resolved a long time ago.”
The situation was a mistake in their property tax.
The Andrews had purchased a modest one-level two-bedroom bungalow ‘condo’ unit of 1,232 square feet, #51, on Grenville Street in Southampton.
Unfortunately, when it came to property taxes the Andrews were in for a surprise. The numbers on their street had been reversed, either by the County or by the municipality, the original errror is yet to be determined. Instead of being assessed as a one-level 1,232 square foot bungalow with a single car garage, they had been assessed at the rate applicable to unit #46, a two-story, 1,700+ square foot three-bath home with a double garage.
It wasn’t until a neighbour discovered the error that their property number 52 had been reversed with the number 46, as had other numbers on the street, resulting in a significant difference of taxes paid.
According to the Andrews, following email ‘discussions’ with MPAC, a representative paid a visit and confirmed that the street numbers had, in fact, been reversed. MPAC then sent a message to the Town that the numbers had been reversed.
Donna Andrews, during her delegation, said that several contacts were made with the Town and, in the end, were told that they could hire a lawyer or bring the issue to Council.
“We are here today,” said Andrews, “because we feel that we should not have to hire a lawyer for the Town to do the right thing.”
“We went to a neighbour and, after going through her property tax papers, discovered that we both have significantly over-paid our taxes,” added Andrews. “The town however said that ‘legislatively’ it did not have to go back beyond 2022, a two-year period, for reimbursement.”
Andrews also pointed out that under a ‘case law’ point, when there is a systemic problem that a property owner has nothing to do with and that needs to be corrected, the correction can go back in time. The Andrews have owned the home since 2019 and have been incorrectly taxed since the beginning.
“We are not sure if the mistake is at the County or the municipal level,” said Andrews.
Owner, Barb Mulholland, adjacent to the Andrews, also discovered she is in the same situation of having overpaid on taxes and, apparently after numerous attempts to contact town staff, had received no response since August, 2024.
“We are asking that the town make full reimbursement and correct the oversight that allowed this to happen,” said Andrews.
The overpayment requested by the Andrews is $614.59. Mayor Luke Charbonneau explained that the request would go back to staff with a report to come back before Council.
Councillor Cheryl Grace said, “It doesn’t really matter where the error occurred originally. There is an error, you have been over-charged and I support reimbursing you in full because it is not your fault.”
Councillor John Divinski also asked if the matter could be ‘fast-tracked’ to the next Council meeting. “I would hope we can solve this by the end of January.”
“My thought is this could have been resolved at a staff management level,” said Councillor Rachel Stack. “It’s less than $1,000 and … at six hundred and some dollars it’s not an issue. Is there not town managerial discretion to resolve this issue?”
CAO Kara Van Myall said that where there is managerial discretion it can be used however, a report will come back to Council and will include legislative requirements.
Stack said, in her review of the Municipal Act, there is a mandatory obligation to refund for two years “… and that’s what I am interested in knowing.”
Deputy Mayor Diane Huber requested that the report include the four properties that have an issue with registration and MPAC.
Mayor Luke Charbonneau also said it would be worthwhile to get a more in-depth picture not specifically just for this case but for the future. “It’s clear we have a broader issue here and what we’ll here back from staff will address that broader issue, and Council will then decide what to do.”
