Ontario. Property Assessment Division

• Property Assessment Division

• Ontario. Assessment Division

• Ontario. Assessment Services Division

• Ontario. Property Assessment Program

The Property Assessment Division was created on January 1, 1970 within the Ontario Department of Municipal Affairs, as the Assessment Division. The division absorbed the former Municipal Assessment Branch, but was much larger than the branch as a result of the assumption of the municipal assessment function directly by the provincial government. Prior to 1970, this function was administered by municipalities in Ontario, with some oversight from the provincial government. The number of employees in the former Municipal Assessment Branch was around 100. The number of employees in the new division was approximately 2,000.

The Division included the Assessment Standards Branch and the Assessment Education Branch. It also included seven regional offices scattered around Ontario. In 1971, the number of regional offices was reduced to five.

On April 1, 1972, the Assessment Division became part of the newly created Ministry of Revenue. At that time, it was restructured into the Assessment Standards Branch and the Field Services Branch. The division was originally headed by an Executive Director. In 1980 an Assistant Deputy Minister was appointed for the property assessment program.

In 1980, the Assessment Division was restructured and renamed the Assessment Services Division. The division then included the Assessment Policies and Priorities Branch, the Field Operations Branch, the Special Properties Branch, the Data Services and Development Branch, and 31 Regional Assessment Offices.

After the division moved into the Ministry of Finance in 1993, it was renamed the Property Assessment Division and the Appraisal Services Branch was set up within it, absorbing the Special Properties Branch. The Field Operations Branch was also split into the Eastern and Northern Regional Operations Branch, and the Central and Western Regional Operations Branch. In 1998 the real property assessment function was divested by the Ontario government, and the Division was replaced with the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation (OPAC), a statutory corporation controlled by the municipalities.

The Property Assessment Division administered the Assessment Act, conducting the valuation and assessment of real property (land and buildings) in Ontario for the purposes of municipal taxation, and enumeration for voters' and school supporters' lists. The division also took over the administration of the Provincial Land tax Act, involving the assessment of property in unorganised territory.

RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

Annual Reports of the Dept of Municipal Affairs, 1969-1970. Ont. Govt. Directories, 1970-1998

Ontario Government Telephone Directories, 1972-1980.

Not in Canadiana Authorities.

Archivist(s):
Ralph Coram