Property Taxes

This table shows the 2025 tax rates for residential, new multi-residential and multi-residential properties.

This table shows the residential tax rates for street lights.

This table shows the 2025 tax rates for different categories of commercial properties.

This table shows the commercial tax rates for street lights.

This table shows the 2025 tax rates for different categories of industrial properties.

This table shows the industrial tax rates for street lights.

This table shows the 2025 tax rates for occupied landfills, pipelines, farm, aggregate and managed forests.

This table shows the landfill, pipeline, farm, aggregate and managed forest tax rates for street lights.

This table shows the 2024 tax rates for residential, new multi-residential and multi-residential properties.

This table shows the residential tax rates for street lights.

This table shows the 2024 tax rates for different categories of commercial properties.

This table shows the commercial tax rates for street lights.

This table shows the 2024 tax rates for different categories of industrial properties.

This table shows the industrial tax rates for street lights.

This table shows the 2024 tax rates for occupied landfills, pipelines, farm, and managed forests.

This table shows the landfill, pipeline, farm and managed forest tax rates for street lights.

Property taxes are determined by multiplying the current value assessment (CVA) of your property provided by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) by the applicable tax rate for the current year.

For example, if your home is assessed at $100,000, and the residential tax rate (which includes education, county, OPP, and municipal components) is 0.01241846.

The base property tax calculation would be:
$100,000×0.01241846=$1,241.85

Please refer to the tax rates section for the specific rates applicable to each property class.

Some properties may be subject to additional/local levies based on their location. For example, if your property is located in Zurich, the Zurich streetlight levy would apply:

The streetlight levy calculation would be:
$100,000×0.00038947=$38.95

To calculate the total annual levy, the base tax rate and additional levies would be added together. For example the base tax of $1,241.85 plus streetlight levy of $38.95. The total would be $1,280.80.

For more information about current value assessments, please visit the MPAC website.

Property tax rates are made up of several components that are set by different levels of government. 

• Education: Set by the Province of Ontario, this portion helps fund the public education system.
• County: Determined by the County of Huron, this supports county-wide services such as infrastructure and social programs.
• Municipal: Set by the Municipality of Bluewater, this includes local services like road maintenance, parks, policing, etc. (e.g., the Municipal OPP Budget).

In addition to these base rates, special area rates—such as streetlighting— may apply depending on your property's location.

All properties in Ontario are assessed and classified by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) in compliance with the Assessment Act and other provincial regulations.

MPAC:

• Provides the Municipality with the annual assessment roll
• Determines current value assessments (CVA)
• Issues assessment notices
• Handles appeals over property assessment values through the request for reconsideration process
• Makes information about properties and calculations available through their information portal
• Collects school support designation information from property owners for use in elections

The MPAC website contains more information for property owners and about properties than what the Municipality can provide. It is the best source of information for anyone with questions about assessments. 

When receiving notices from MPAC, they often include deadlines for action. It is important for anyone receiving these notices to take note of any deadlines stated.

Please note, you must update your contact information with MPAC directly if there are any changes. The Municipality does not forward address change requests.

Many people question the difference in property taxes between their property and others in the neighbourhood. How a property is assessed affects the dollar value of taxes paid. 

If you are questioning your assessment, please visit the MPAC website where you can find information about the value of your property and how the value compares to others.

MPAC can help you review your assessment and determine if it is accurate. If you believe there may be an error, you can submit a Request for Reconsideration directly to MPAC.

IMPORTANT: You must continue to pay your tax bill during the dispute/appeal process. Any corrections or refunds will be made following the end of the appeal process.

In Ontario, eligible farmland is taxed at a different rate than residential properties.

It is important to review tax and assessment notices carefully. If you have not completed the paperwork required by Agricorp to confirm eligibility, your assessment will be returned to residential.

Changes to property ownership, including company name changes or adding and removing owners for properties classified as farms will cause the assessment to change to residential and trigger a review of the property classification. 

Contact Agricorp for questions and concerns related to farm status. You will need your Agricorp ID.

Updated assessments for new builds on vacant land are provided to the Municipality by MPAC. Until this information is received, property tax payments will be based on the value of the land only. It can take several years to receive updated assessment information.

Your home is taxable from the date that it was ready for occupancy. While your property may not be fully assessed for up to three years, you will be responsible for taxes that apply retroactively back to the occupancy date.

Supplementary tax bills are issued by the Municipality for new, omitted or updated property assessments based on information provided by the MPAC. Supplementary taxes are in addition to the amounts already billed for property taxes and can apply to a maximum of three tax years.

If you have received a supplementary tax bill and you are participating in a pre-authorized payment plan (PAP) for payment of your property taxes, the PAP is not recalculated when a supplementary bill is issued. You will need to make separate payments for the supplementary bill according to the due dates provided on the bill.

Provincial legislation allows some additional amounts to be transferred to property taxes if they remain unpaid. 

Water and wastewater arrears—Provincial legislation under the Municipal Act allows for charges for the supply of a public utility to be added to the taxes of the property to which the utility was supplied. This includes the arrears of any tenants of the property. It is the property owner's responsibility to ensure that the tenant is paying the water and wastewater charges. Additionally, unpaid utility charges are a lien on the property.

Accounts receivable—Invoices remaining unpaid for more than 30 days, are classified as overdue. In accordance with municipal policy, these overdue accounts receivable amounts may be transferred to the property tax roll. This ensures recovery of funds for services already provided and maintains fairness across all property owners. Once transferred, the amount becomes part of your property tax balance and is subject to the same penalties and collection procedures as regular property taxes.

Priority liens—According to the Municipal Act, Section 398, fees and charges that are imposed by a municipality or local board under the Act for specific services which are added to the tax roll have priority lien status. This means that they form a lien against the property and can be collected in the same manner as taxes. The Municipality has the authority to collect amounts on the property tax account before mortgage companies and financial institutions as well as other levels of government. Learn more on our tax sales page.

The Municipality of Bluewater does not determine property ownership. Changes to ownership records—such as removing a deceased person's name or updating information from a property sale/moving—are made based on information provided by the MPAC. MPAC receives updates from the Land Registry Office or from notifications submitted by legal representatives, such as lawyers, acting on behalf of property owners.

The Municipality cannot make changes until we have been notified by MPAC. This process may take several weeks depending on when the information is received and processed by municipal staff.

In the case where one owner of a jointly owned property has passed away, a lawyer will prepare a survivorship application to register the change with the Land Registry Office. The Municipality will update its records upon notification from MPAC or by receipt of a copy of the registered document from a lawyer.

Contact the tax clerk at 519-236-4351 ext. 222 to inquire about the status of your change of ownership if you do not see an update within two months of your ownership change.

An ownership change fee is charged to the account when changes are made to the ownership on record. Where there are two owners on an account and one is being removed, no fee is charged. The fee is applicable when a new roll number is created or an update or change is made to the property deed. See our fees and charges by-law for the most up-to-date rates.

To protect the personal privacy of account holders, the Finance Department does not disclose property tax account details to third parties such as realtors, lawyers, financial institutions, or appraisers. Tax account information is released solely to property owners and mortgage companies that are officially recorded in municipal records as having a registered interest in the property.

Third parties may access publicly available property information through the assessment roll book, which does not require owner consent. This resource includes the property roll number, registered owner’s name and mailing address, assessed value of the property, and applicable tax classes.

The assessment roll book is available upon request at the municipal office, located at 14 Mill Avenue, Zurich. Please note that photocopying or photographing the contents of the assessment roll book is strictly prohibited.

When a property is severed to create one or more new lots, MPAC assigns a new roll number to each new parcel. Once created, MPAC assigns new assessment values to the new parcel(s) by apportioning (redistributing) the original assessment value between the new and existing parcels. This process can take several weeks or more.

Note: The combined assessment of the new parcels may not equal the original value before severance.

Until the process is complete, property owners may still receive tax bills for the full amount.

If a severance/consolidation of property happens during the current year or at the end of the previous year, updated information may not be included in the current year's roll book and it cannot be processed until the final installment of the current year's final tax bill. Property owners may still receive tax bills for the full assessed value of the property in these cases.

Until MPAC completes the apportionment processes the Severance Change Information Form (SCIF):

• The registered owner of the original roll must continue paying property taxes as billed.
• Once the Municipality receives and processes these applications (after the second installment of the final bill), you will receive a tax bill or credit notice.

If you're selling a property that is undergoing severance:

• Lawyers often include a clause in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale to allow for property tax adjustments.
• The Municipality is not involved in private sale agreements.
• We do not apportion payments between buyers and sellers.