Wind turbines
Orangeville Citizen | 2013-12-19 | www.citizen.on.ca
Mayor Hill’s comments regarding the limited industrial tax generated by wind turbines in Melancthon Township highlighted a new reason for municipalities to try to reject them. As he observed (“Turbine tax allocations said ‘unfair’ – Hill,” 12 December), only about 1/4 of the generated tax goes to the township; the remainder is passed to the county and school boards, which are not affected by the presence of wind turbines. I thank Mayor Hill and reporter Wes Keller for bringing this situation to the public’s attention.
The monsters also affect property values. No one wishes to buy a property adjacent to a wind turbine; so the owner either loses a sale or reduces the price by a large percentage of its real value. That reduction in turn reduces the property tax generated by properties adjacent to turbines – or at least it should if MPAC is properly responsive; so Melancthon is hit two ways.
One would think 118 wind turbines in one municipality are more than enough, but there is no indication that Premier Wynne will do more than “consider” all points of view before approving more turbine construction applications.
In any other situation where property values and taxes are deliberately diminished, the instigator must compensate the victim. There has been no such offer from the Liberal government. Rather, Premier and Agriculture Minister Wynne has lowered payments to rural municipalities, favouring the cities where most of her supporters live. Perhaps it’s time for a new Agriculture Minister. And Premier.
Charles Hooker
East Garafraxa
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/12/19/wind-turbines-4/