MPAC Announces Contingency Plans in Event of a Labour Disruption

PICKERING, Ontario, June 14, 2016 – OPSEU, the union representing approximately 1,300 of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation’s (MPAC) employees will be in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. on June 17. While a number of issues have been resolved by the bargaining committees representing MPAC and OPSEU, the issues of benefits and wages remain outstanding. MPAC is committed to reaching an agreement that is fair and equitable to all of its employees and reflects the bargaining trends and climate of the broader public sector in Ontario.

MPAC remains hopeful that a negotiated collective agreement will be reached, with the assistance of a provincially appointed Conciliation Officer, before the strike deadline of June 17. In the event that there is a labour disruption, MPAC will pause on the mailing of residential property assessment Notices for the 2016 Assessment Update. As part of the province-wide Assessment Update, MPAC has mailed Notices to 350 of 444 municipalities representing 72% of Ontario’s 4.6 million residential properties. Non-residential business and farm Notices are scheduled to go out in the fall.

Other services that will be affected in the event of a labour dispute include:

• Customer Contact Centre Inquiries – property owners will be redirected to www.aboutmyproperty.ca or have the opportunity to send an email to enquiry@mpac.ca.
• The processing of Requests for Reconsideration (RfRs);
• Appeals/hearings scheduled with the Assessment Review Board (ARB); and
• The processing of assessment growth for municipalities.

If a labour dispute is initiated, additional information will be posted on www.mpac.ca.

About MPAC

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is an independent, not-for-profit corporation, responsible for assessing and classifying more than five million properties in Ontario in compliance with the Assessment Act established by the Government of Ontario.

Every four years MPAC conducts a province-wide assessment update to determine the Current Value Assessment for all properties which municipalities use to set property tax rates.

MPAC provides a range of services, including the preparation of annual assessment rolls for use by municipalities and the Province of Ontario to calculate property taxes and education taxes.