City of Powell River Council has directed staff to prepare a property tax penalty bylaw adjusting the dates of when penalties would be applied.
Typically, the tax deadline day is at the beginning of July and taxpayers not paying their taxes on that date are subject to a 10 per cent penalty on any amount unpaid at that time. The proposal before council is to have October 1 and December 4 penalty dates and property tax penalties of five per cent for each.
At the April 16 council meeting, city chief financial officer Adam Langenmaier told councillors the recommendation before them provided a few months deferral for every taxpayer in town and reduces the penalty impact.
Langenmaier said July 2 will remain the tax deadline, but if taxpayers cannot pay by then, nothing happens.
“The October 1 penalty is five per cent, which is half the normal penalty of 10 per cent, and whatever else is unpaid by the December deadline, there is an additional five per cent, only on the outstanding amount,” said Langenmaier. “The reason for December 4 instead of year-end is because it would run into Christmas season. By having the deadline as December 4, we will alleviate those operational issues.”
Councillor George Doubt said this idea had been discussed with himself, Langenmaier, mayor Dave Formosa and chief administrative officer Russell Brewer. Doubt said the tax penalty date will be the same for business, commercial and residential taxpayers.
“Normally, without this bylaw, a disciplinary penalty of 10 per cent would go to those who don’t pay their taxes on July 2,” said Doubt. “It’s moved to October 1 to provide less of a penalty for people who struggle in getting that, and on December 4, there will be an additional five per cent to give people a little bit of a break if they are having trouble paying their taxes. We’ve been paying attention to what is happening. The City of Vancouver did a study on who might have trouble paying property taxes this year and they came up with a number of possibly 25 per cent of people.
“This is a small thing the city can do with minimal cost impact on the city.”
Doubt said he thinks the proposed tax bylaw is a good activity to undertake and allows people who are having trouble paying their taxes a bit of a break on penalties.
“It allows people to defer them to a certain extent,” he added
Doubt said the city would like to see an expansion of the provincial tax deferral program to encompass more taxpayers than the existing program currently involves.
In a report to council, Langenmaier stated COVID-19 has increased financial strain on some residents.
“To provide support for these residents, council could adjust when property taxes are due and when property tax penalties are applied to help alleviate some financial pressure,” stated Langenmaier. “Other local governments in BC have adjusted their property tax schedules.
“There will be people who will be able to meet the July 2 deadline for property tax payments and the expectation is that people who can pay should pay on time. There will also be people who will not be able to meet the July 2 deadline due to financial pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The city can reduce the financial burden on these residents by adopting a later penalty date, thereby giving these residents more time to pay their property taxes without financial penalties.”
The agenda for the April 23 City of Powell River Council meeting calls for the first three readings of the proposed tax penalty bylaw.
