Approximately 134,000 Brampton homeowners have started receiving property reassessment notices in the mail this week, and those whose home values increased 15 per cent since 2005 will not be impacted.

That's the average increase in residential property values in Brampton between Jan. 1, 2005 and Jan. 1, 2008, according to Dan Devellis of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

However, properties that increased more than 15 per cent in value in that three year period will now carry more of the property tax burden than in the past, which means the owners will face an assessment-driven property tax increase in addition to any budget increases approved by city and regional councils. That assessment increase will be phased in, however, over the next four years to lessen the impact.

Figures won't be available until next week on exactly how many Brampton homeowners will be impacted and in what areas locally the property values might have increased more than 15 per cent.

Residential properties that saw a less-than 15 per cent increase in value since 2005 will carry less of the property tax burden than in the past. Those homeowners will see an assessment-driven property tax decrease and that will take full effect for the 2009 taxation year, with no phase-in period.

The entire reassessment process is revenue-neutral, meaning the city, region and school boards will not collect any more money from taxpayers as a result. Instead, the re-assessment redistributes the property tax burden among property owners, depending on how much more valuable their property has become in the past three years.

Owners are being asked to go over their assessments as soon as they receive the notices. MPAC officials have reassessed 4.7 million homes across Ontario, so there is room for error, Devellis said.

Property owners have until March 31 to file for a reconsideration of their reassessment each taxation year. MPAC provides detailed information about how it reached a decision on the value of each property, and offers examples of similar homes and home values in each neighbourhood on its Web site at www.mpac.ca under AboutMyProperty. The information will help homeowners determine if their homes have been assessed accurately, or if a mistake has been made.

"Our values are based on actual selling prices and reflect the local real estate market," Devellis said. "We have seen selling prices for homes, waterfront property and farmland increase over the past three years and our values show that."

The last reassessment in 2005 caused a stir among some taxpayers who did not realize the impact until property tax bills were mailed out months later. MPAC has made several changes to help explain the process and how properties have been assessed.

"We have made a number of changes to improve customer service and provide property taxpayers with more information that they can use to decide if their assessed value is accurate," Devellis said.

The changes include redesigning the Property Assessment Notice to make it easier to read and new services on the Web site that make it easier to compare properties and decide if the assessment is correct.

"Our role is to assess property accurately. We strive for accuracy, but when assessing nearly 4.7 million properties across Ontario, mistakes can be made. If a property taxpayer believes an error has been made and that his or her property would not have sold for its assessed value on January 1, 2008, we want them to call us or visit our Mississauga office. We'll explain how we arrived at the assessment and, if it's wrong, we'll fix it," Devellis said.

All properties, not just residential, have been reassessed according to provincial government guidelines.

Since 2005, farmland for farming purposes in Brampton and Caledon has also increased in value, by approximately 56 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, according to MPAC. Those values will also be phased in over the next four years.

Brampton had the lowest increase in residential property values among the three Region of Peel municipalities. In Mississauga, residential property values increased approximately 21 per cent, and in Caledon the average increase was 23 per cent, compared to Brampton's 15 per cent.

Hours at MPAC's local office, which is located in Mississauga, will be extended from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday through November 7 to respond to taxpayers' questions. The regular hours at the Mississauga office are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Property taxpayers can also call the Customer Contact Centre at 1-866-296-MPAC (6722) or visit the MPAC Web site at www.mpac.ca for more information.