Many employees fear Ontario's Municipal Property Assessment Corp. is "on the brink of final, fatal, failure.... What are we supposed to tell ratepayers?" - OPSEU
Toronto (18 Feb. 2009) - Ontario's Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) has broken down because of faulty computers and can no longer make changes in Ontario property records, says the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE).
"What should have been a simple change to the way assessment changes affect property owners – included in the 2008 provincial budget – has effectively paralyzed the organization," the union says.
"Many MPAC staff worry that they are witnessing the total meltdown of a once-proud property assessment system."
David Lynch, chair of the OPSEU division that represents MPAC employees, says employees can no longer process RfRs (requests for reconsideration) to change existing property value records.
"What are we supposed to tell ratepayers?" Lynch asks. "Our members are left holding the bag in talking with the public."
OPSEU says municipalities across Ontario are complaining about the situation and "the bad news can only be kept under wraps for so long."
IPS technology not working
The cause of the failure is MPAC's Integrated Property System (IPS) which was adopted to replace MPAC's dysfunctional 25-year-old Ontario Assessment System (OASYS).
"The Integrated Property System that went live three years ago has never worked properly," says Ivan Herrington, OPSEU chair of a union-management committee at MPAC.
"But now, because IPS cannot calculate the phase-in of assessment value changes, many staff fear that the organization itself is on the brink of final, fatal, failure," he says.
"Our members are frustrated and exasperated. We have invested our careers into this organization. We care about the job we’re doing and we simply can’t do our job."
OPSEU says the system has essentially been "read-only" for some time. "Staff cannot change data for any property. They cannot resolve any RFRs, even though they are legally required to do so by Sept. 2009," the union says.
Address situation now
The only work being accomplished is on paper and none of this is making its way into the computer system, OPSEU adds.
"With the 2009 provincial budget just weeks away, it is clear that MPAC is unable to deliver on Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s promise in the 2008 budget," says Herrington. "This crisis has big implications, and we need to address it now."
The OPSEU leadership team at MPAC is calling on the board of directors to take immediate steps to resolve the crisis. NUPGE
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