TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty admits municipal property assessments mailed to homes across Ontario this fall are "unrealistic" given dramatic drops in the financial and real estate markets.
However, McGuinty says the province won't direct the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation to scrap the 2008 assessments, the first in several years, and do fresh ones.
He says municipal councils across Ontario should keep in mind that the assessments are out of date when they prepare local property tax bills.
The opposition parties claim the Liberals froze the assessments to help them get through the 2007 Ontario election without a backlash from homeowners upset about big increases.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton says the government created an "artificial" situation by freezing the assessments and must deal with it.
McGuinty says the government introduced a four-year phase-in for the new assessments to help mitigate the impact of dramatic increases.
