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08 | 18 | 2016 VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 32
LRT SURCHARGE COULD APPLY TO TWP. HOMES VENTURE PAGE 13
COMMENT PAGE 6
WOODLOT ASSESSMENT NOT THE FIRST ISSUE WITH MPAC
www.OBSERVERXTRA.com
Give him some “props” for the swing Wellesley diamonds busy over the weekend during fundraising Don Green Memorial Slo-Pitch tournament Crazy hats and punny team names were all part of the friendly competition that took over the ball diamonds in Wellesley last weekend for the 32nd annual Don Green Memorial Slo-Pitch tournament. Money raised goes to the Don Green Memorial Fund and to support sports and youth in the community. [WHITNEY NEILSON / THE OBSERVER]
Woodlot property owners face large tax increase Once deemed farmland, agriculture brush lands deemed “residential” in latest revision
STEVE KANNON FACING A FIVE-FOLD INCREASE in his property taxes, a Woolwich landowner is looking to reverse that assessment call. So far, he’s had trouble getting as much as an explanation. The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation notice received by Carlo Tucci applies to a 45-acre piece of farmland on Benja-
min Road. The revised assessment changes to “residential” from “farmland” the property’s 15 acres of brush and trees, sending the taxes soaring. “MPAC tells me they can’t designate it as farmland because the 15 acres is not farmland and the only designation they can assign the acreage is residential,” he explained. “ Now here is the truly insane part: the land is inaccessible because it’s
landlocked on all sides and the rear, and the only way to get to it is through the 30 acres of farmland with its crops.” The distinction between the farmed land and the woodlot has never been an issue, he added, noting he’s not alone in dealing with the reassessment and higher taxes. “I’ve never had a problem since I bought it in 1998,” he said of the land and its tax
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designation. Richard Petherick, Woolwich’s finance director, says Tucci’s is not an isolated case. While the township is sympathetic, it is powerless to change the tax-rate classification set by MPAC. “The township can only bill on what MPAC information we have,” he explained, adding the only clarification he’s heard is that as MPAC | 2
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