County of Barrhead extends tax payment deadline

BARRHEAD-County of Barrhead residents will have more time to pay their property tax bill without fear of penalty.

That is what councillors decided during their May 5 meeting when they unanimously approved Bylaw 9-2020, also known as the Tax Penalty Amendment Bylaw.

For the third straight council meeting, it was conducted via video-conferencing with members of the media and the public granted access to view the proceedings.

Currently, the property tax rate deadline is Aug. 31 and under the amended bylaw moves to Sept. 30.

Director of finance Tamara Molzahn said among the things the province has done to ease the financial burden of the coronavirus outbreak for Albertans is to defer the non-residential portion of education taxes (school requisition) for six months (April 1-Sept. 30).

Under the Municipal Government Act (MGA), municipalities are required to collect the school requisition. This has been a sore point for Alberta municipalities because they are responsible for paying the amount regardless of whether they can collect it or not.

“Municipalities also have the option to do a blended due date so that the non-residential school portion is the equivalent deferral of six months,” she said. “But since our deadline is Aug. 31, it has no relevance to us because we have to defer to Sept. 30 for the education piece.”

Penalties for late property tax payment, starting Oct. 1 start at eight per cent. After Dec. 1, it is reduced to four per cent and stays at that level to March 1 of the following year, unless otherwise determined by council.

Molzahn noted residents also have the option of enrolling in the municipality’s Tax Installment Payment Plan program (TIPP).

“You can sign up even if you are in arrears and there are no penalties on current taxes,” she said, adding taxes were in arrears would still be penalized on that amount.

Molzahn added the province has mandated that municipalities must defer the non-residential school requisition until Sept. 30.

“They are also encouraging municipalities to provide flexibility in paying their taxes,” she said.

After some consideration, Molzahn noted they decided that in fairness all ratepayers should be given the option to defer payment.

She also said the municipality has sufficient reserves to deal with extending the tax payment deadline for a month.

Molzahn said as of April 30, surrounding municipalities have decided to implement property tax payment deferrals in different ways.

In late March, the County of Westlock passed Tax Penalty Bylaw 03-2020, deferring the 18 per cent penalty from April 1 to May 1 for the 2020 tax year. Woodlands County pushed back late penalties charged on unpaid taxes to Dec. 1, 2020 (the tax payment deadline is June 30), while the Town of Barrhead instituted a tax instalment payment plan and extended their deadline from June 30 to Sept. 30.

Molzahn added administration decided to keep the penalties for overdue accounts at the same level, but said the amount, as well as the deadline, was up to council’s discretion.

Coun. Marvin Schatz said during council’s initial discussions at the committee level, he originally was in favour of lowering the penalties but has since changed his opinion.

“If people are having trouble they can amortize it over a few months,” he said.

Coun. Walter Preugschas agreed, noting the “fewer changes made, the better.”

Council passed a similar policy in early April that temporarily waived the late penalties for 90 days on municipal utilities, i.e. water and sewer bills, as well as other accounts receivable due April 1.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com

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