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14-Champion Country, usa Match 9, 2004 uurI Friendly, Courteous Service in cmN a New "State-of-the-Art" facility 875-3208 885 Main St. E., Milton Units 7 & 8, Main St. at Thompson Rd. New in town? Get acquainted with Milton and ail it has to offer S by ordering a subscription to Vhere To Shop! Where To Dine! Comimunity News! Professional Services! ....And more! OnIy $49.00 per year Phone 878-2341 for mail cheque or mine order to P.O. Box 248, 191 Main St.' E., Milton, Ont. L9T 4N9 Seeking realistic assessment values In the Body Shop Business Churchili to lînd a more r acceptable ( J L method 1eof A Bill Mailloux assessmng agri- C oW"/J4c#a44 cultural lands L m e t r is nearing a ~ & ~ itJ climax in Ontario. This is primarily because the municipal Property Assessinent Corporation bas begun re-classifying some agrirultural popiersies as commercial aod industrial for assrssment purposes. When fax-mers sec their ample symup facilitirs assessed as indus- trial and propry taxes skyrockrting, thry know somrthing bais to be chaogrd. The samne bas bren happening with rhick batcherirs, horse taons, fruit storage facilitirs aod vegetabîr washing and parking sheds. Working with rommodity organizations, the Ontar-io Federation Horas re Nwaaes ocoianid. ioVaioîicvraiow e hi bcoa. thet ac aitasc 12 huofag îor a bous whpoisia glc h ol ohyge ai fon. Z Thicn hIG oent s rmraspration of atla e 0 mi.ani, pmiaal onge deiry rith facor viharia reoeoygnUor ictepaiang aio hgoo al i teUicv unhcs t orai test for NeGontaios ai ynroe s iassgive nro ties casn es crosctus sioasci (sc o Uepic syvopios (Pee. c.g. diazclai f om scîzreht co30i danit aprve, Obs sehctie. hydP roon and a2003;o49s1as Occasi. Thrse foais rare a ihgr deelof carei a fen have s o brh entrda heros specatîzsog vae oneonaorat carleflex, WV uosaring intermittoot (Npeso, a tadasan to nusion andhecorna oceph aiopa have AeP Proccred heas res. 60hans er essa or tesvi shatd ho dcacfity dihe ao iterinrb shavstu ho cause io eoasoe Uic foo as son as posseilie. (aierc .Fot oren Ians héinIisio0an bca rasiionatu septo. AEoceorna prolo9ng3-21 caes reisrînfoc ymtnasoo c asocI on. the Wros<5))06-porca os, oe.giazear for eizre ontol)and upprtie, lui s uniiniinr tio n andcco aogoiiaciao hopia On caii nnnatrlo Ocae. (BeardWV ni-wnth uvyf Nenatal Maaju qaetHyoie serac leealpty.AE rceig SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CARBRIER#ý %W Ma $5 per month for SYLC? SYL.C givies you an opporbJngity to help reoad your camter for the excellent service dea they provlide you every del"er day WHERE idoles the money go? All the money that you pay goes to the $0' camer. 50% goes directy to the carrier, and 50% goes into our Bonus Poins Rewards program*. WHEN do you pay? Your carrerwvillcome toyour ~e' door around the saine dime every month to collect $5, OR you may pay in advance. Contact the office ait the number below for details. *Our Somsas POin Reward prograin is os incentin pmgrai for suryouth cale for cariers msiine poinas forod seesicE arodnso acfnevenrengt voliart orlx and for paon Uienoel as ho good ott-aovxax young ohzocn The Milton Canadlan - Champion Circulation Lighten the scales this year by jolnlng the Herbai Magie team and see how great YOD can look after just one month. NO GYM REQUIRED Cail today for your CONSULTATION SV Guaranteed weight losa. VFuil service programs. VLose uts to 7 Ibs/wook. V No tsrepackagod foods. V Ono-on-one personalized consultation. be Grorery store bought food. Ve Safe, easy & Effective "The girls ait Herbai Magie were tery enrouraging and Expires Matcs 16/04. Oasod on foul pogov. Escludes product. look forward t. I feel grcaf E ND O and people fell me 1llook great too. Thte program was simple -I ET M and easy to folile. Fw~ r oiti oskfortha 15 Martin St. impossible. CARRIASE SQUARE _________________________________ is Our vwght loooen ltiqeh.eba edie specioliy. Am 6 39 9 VcLX 4 , , ý4 ýý'cA îýLî'nk' s, - 'M-'- to work with fax-m organizations snd the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation to develop a realistic definition of agri- cultural operations to avoid the distorted assrssments and tax bills some fax-mers are expecting. The OFA has identified additional problems with the province's approach to coming up with assessment values for farmland. Curx-ently the selling price in fax-mer-to-fariner sales is the stan- dard, but with only 1,500 such sales each year in Ontario, the value isii't accurate for assessment purposes. This sysîrin is also prone to captu-ing speculative value in some areas. This causes distortions in the actual agricultural value of the property, and can yield unusually high assessment values. OFA is rxamining the use of productive value of the farmland as a means of establishing assrssed value. This approarh is now used for apartment buildings and golf courses. It avoids the inclusion of high urban land values in assessments and provides a more realis- tic property assrssment. There are several variations being considered for the productive value approach for farmland assrssments. With crop insurance data covering approximately 23,000 farin- mng operations in Ontario, data from insured fax-ms could be mapped to develop a cîrar idea of soil productivity capabilities county by rounty. 'he data fx-om insured fax-ms could be used to estimatr values of nearby uninsured faoins. Values for farmiand rentals could provide another baais for pro- ductive value assessinents. Generally, faoners rrnîing land to pro- dure crops base the rental value on tbe productive rapability of the land, so il's unlikely and distorting characteristirs could enter this fornula. Scientifically developrd data for sucb production-based calcula- tions as avallable heat units, historir rainfaîl amounts, soil typed and fertility levels could also be incorporated into tbe formula used to produce productive value assrssmrnts. Grtting speculative and rerreational values out of faoni assess- ments and a proper definition for faon use are urgent objectives of OFA and Ontario rommodity organizations. Wr arknowledge there will always be taxes on faonland, but we belirve they nerd lobe shared more rquitably based on production capabilities of the land. Bill Maillousv is ruce-president of thse Ontario Federation of Agriculture.