Grey Highlands council has asked municipal staff to report back on ways the municipality could possibly help a local resident who was displaced from his home several years ago due to an oil spill.
At its meeting on March 5, council voted unanimously in favour of requesting a staff report with options available to help local resident Richard Frisby, who was forced to leave his home five years ago after an oil spill/leak on his property.
Frisby appeared as a delegation at the meeting and made a presentation to council on the situation. He said in 2019, an furnace oil spill/leak on his property forced him to leave his home. The spill contaminated his basement and his drinking water. Eventually, the Ministry of the Environment and his insurance company recommended the home be demolished.
Frisby said he spent a couple of years living in a rented home in the Town of Collingwood.
“The remediation of the property was pretty intense,” he told council.
He explained that during the time he was displaced from his home, he continued to pay full property taxes at the normal residential rate - even though the house had been demolished. A new home eventually was constructed on the site and he said the assessed value of the new home dramatically increased.
“For three years I continued to pay taxes as if I had a farmhouse and was living there,” he said.
Frisby said he is behind on his taxes, which he intends to pay in full and has been charged more than $300 in interest, but feels there should be some sort of rebate on the taxes he paid while there was no home on the property.
Members of council were sympathetic to Frisby’s plight, but noted that the municipality does not have any control over property tax assessment, which is the responsibility of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).
“The challenge is, this is more with MPAC and the way the property is assessed,” said Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen.
Mayor Paul McQueen said the demolition permit issued for Frisby’s property should have triggered a re-assessment from MPAC. Such a re-assessment would have lowered the taxes charged on Frisby’s property while there was no home on the site.
“There is a flaw in there,” said McQueen, noting that they needed to find out “who dropped the ball.”
After a discussion on the issue, council passed a resolution requesting a staff report that would outline what options might be available for the municipality to offer assistance to Frisby.