McMullan said he has been in contact with the office of Carl Isenburg, president and chief administrative officer of the agency responsible for assessing what properties in Ontario are worth. Those assessments determine how much an individual home or property owner pays as his or her share of local town or city, regional and education property taxes.

Over the last two weeks, assessment notices went out to more than 170,000 Niagara property owners, informing them of what MPAC considers their properties to be worth. The new assessments come after a three-year freeze on assessments, imposed by the province while MPAC underwent a major retooling.

In the case of downtown St. Catharines, McMullan said he's heard of assessments going up anywhere from 35 per cent to 104 per cent.

Assessment increases will be phased in over four years, but McMullan said any substantial increases in taxes that downtown businesses have to pay could hurt efforts to revitalize the city core.

"We have some exciting plans for downtown, but it's been a challenging time for our downtown over the last few years," he said.

He is hoping Isenburg or a representative will agree to meet with downtown property owners.

McMullan also wants the province to do away with the capping of some property classes, which means property owners such as many in downtown St. Catharines are paying more than their fair share in taxes, while other areas such as those in the booming tourism sector of Niagara Falls don't pay as much as they should.

McMullan said that capping means property owners in St. Catharines are paying about $2 million extra in taxes a year.

"It is imperative that the province remove that," he said.