Despite having extended the city property tax penalty deadline from the beginning of July to the end of August, most of the city’s taxes have been collected.
At the July 22 city finance committee meeting, chief financial officer Adam Langenmaier provided an update regarding how property tax collection has gone this year. He said earlier in the year, at a May special council meeting, council chose to change the tax collection deadline.
Langenmaier said he had a conservative view that it would strongly impact tax collections again like it did in 2020, when council also deferred the penalty date because of COVID-19. He said this year, council moved the penalty date from July 2 to August 31, after which a five per cent penalty would be incurred. Council also stipulated a second penalty date of October 31, after which another five per cent would be assessed.
Langenmaier reviewed a table that outlined the rates of collections and how they compare to prior years.
“As of the week of July 5 to 11, we have collected 93.3 per cent of our property taxes,” said Langenmaier. “This is a significant improvement over last year. At the same time in 2020, we were only at 72 per cent.”
Langenmaier said the 93.3 per cent collection puts the city slightly behind the three-year average from 2017 to 2019, the years prior to COVID-19, which was at 96.7 per cent.
“So, this is good news,” said Langenmaier. “We’ll likely see a bit more collection come in before that August 31 penalty date, and then hopefully the last remainder will come in before the October 31 penalty date.”
Langenmaier said the financial implications are such that the city will not have to defer any of its capital projects or make any changes to its operations, which he had thought the city may.
Mayor Dave Formosa said the rate of collection is good news.
“I know you [Langenmaier] were a little on the cautious side,” added Formosa.
The mayor said he also wanted council to know that he had families of Catalyst Paper workers thank him, and by extension, council, because they took advantage of the tax payment extension. He said the workers were out of work for a year.
“The gamble paid off and we’re in good shape,” said Formosa. “The families who needed it are taking advantage, so thanks, everybody.”
Finance committee chair councillor George Doubt said delaying the penalty date didn’t cost very much in delayed tax collections this year and he thinks it was useful to a smaller number of people.
“Hopefully, this may be the last year that we need to do something like that,” said Doubt.
