REQUEST FOR DECISION
DATE: April 6, 2021 Report No. FIN-21-007
TO: Laurie Hurst, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Ian Irvine, Director of Financial Services
SUBJECT:
Title
Alternate Municipal Tax Collection Scheme
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That Council give first, second and third readings to Alternative Municipal Tax Collection Scheme Bylaw No. 3025, 2021 and further rescind Alternative Municipal Collection Tax Scheme Bylaw, 2020, No. 2998 as outlined in Staff Report No. FIN-21-007.
Body
RELEVANT POLICY:
Community Charter S.235, S236
STRATEGIC RELEVANCE:
This decision does not relate directly to any strategic goal or objective
BACKGROUND:
Statutory powers for municipal property tax due dates and tax notices are regulated under the Community Charter. The Municipal Tax Regulation (B.C Reg 426/2003) outlines the penalty date and states that "the collector must add to the unpaid taxes for the parcel and improvements for the current year a penalty equal to 10% of the portion that remains unpaid". The application of a penalty not only provides an incentive for taxes to be paid on time but serves to reduce cash flow concerns while generating interest revenues.
Property taxes are due each year on the first business day following July 1 however there is a provision under the Community Charter that allows a municipality to establish a different penalty under an alternative tax scheme. Under this provision, a municipality has the authority to establish terms for when a penalty may be applied. For instance, the Township can choose to have penalties apply to the non-homeowner grant portion of outstanding taxes or it can establish different penalty dates.
Currently, in addition to Esquimalt, there are five other municipalities in the CRD that operate under the general tax scheme. The other local municipalities have an alternate tax scheme in place to either to split the 10% outstanding tax penalty to be applied on two separate dates or app...
Click here for full text