The City of Greater Sudbury is growing, with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) recording $181 million in assessment growth last year.
This should not be conflated with the reassessment of status-quo properties, since MPAC’s latest reassessment year was 2016.
Greater Sudbury’s $181-million assessment growth represents new builds and renovations to existing properties which increased their assessed value.
Last year’s growth followed $142 million in new assessments recorded in Greater Sudbury in 2023, and $137 million in 2022.
A relatively steady increase in assessment growth has taken place since prior to the pandemic, city solicitor and clerk Eric Labelle told Sudbury.com, noting that assessment growth has been rising since it was 0.7 per cent in 2019, hitting 1.2 per cent last year.
Although an exact breakdown of which property classifications contributed to last year’s $181 million in assessment growth was not available, MPAC vice-president Dan DeVellis told Sudbury.com that it was largely driven by residential developments.
A city spokesperson told Sudbury.com that 833 permits were issued for new housing units in 2024, including multi-residential. There were 130 new residential permits issued (including multi-residential), and 969 residential renovation permits.
In 2023, 436 new housing units broke ground in Greater Sudbury.
Southern Ontario municipalities led the pack when it came to assessment growth last year, which totalled $42.7 billion provincewide.
Greater Sudbury ranked 37th among Ontario municipalities, but first within Northeast Ontario.
Assessment growth expands the tax base, which means municipal taxpayers pay lower tax bills than they might otherwise.
The city collects the same total fixed amount of money regardless of the assessed value of properties being billed, but a growth in assessment means there’s a bigger pie to draw from, Labelle explained.
“That assessment growth means we have more properties to collect that set amount of property taxes from,” he said. “It eases the burden for existing taxpayers, and increases density in the community and makes it a little bit easier for everybody.”
Due to the complexity of how tax rates are determined, in which property classifications are taxed at different rates in relation to residential, a 1.2-per-cent increase in assessment doesn’t mean a straight 1.2-per-cent drop in tax bills.
“Our community is growing, maybe not at the rate of some southern Ontario municipalities, but we are seeing some definite growth in our community, which I think is definitely beneficial to a community like ours, which is geographically so large,” Labelle said, citing an infrastructure spending gap as symptomatic of the municipality’s overall low density.
MPAC’s DeVellis similarly described assessment growth as adding "significant value to property assessment rolls, helping municipalities to distribute taxes more evenly.”
“These assessments really help municipalities determine property tax rates to build and run thriving communities with local services, such as libraries, park, fire stations,” he said.
As for reassessments, DeVellis said the province is undertaking a review of its property taxation and assessment system, and that 2016 values are still being used in concert with whatever assessment growth takes place each year, be it new builds or renovations.
Reassessment years find the assessed value of all properties in Ontario adjusted to reflect comparable properties and other key features that affect market value. Municipalities adjust their tax rates to ensure the reassessment process is revenue neutral overall.
That said, the tax impact varies from property to property depending on where their reassessed value compares against the broader average.
With so much time having passed since the latest reassessment year took place, Labelle said he anticipates an influx of appeals for MPAC and municipalities whenever it finally does happen.
That said, 2016 rates will continue being used to calculate this year’s tax bills, so the potential impacts of reassessments are irrelevant for the time being.
Although city council approved a 2025 tax-levy hike of 4.8 per cent during budget deliberations last month, the impact per household will be determined when a tax plan is hashed out this spring. Greater Sudbury’s 1.2-per-cent 2024 assessment growth will be factored into this plan.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.