Council plans special meet for Friday
By COLLIN GALLANT on March 25, 2020.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant City council is planning to hold a special meeting Friday to be briefed on the local government response to COVID-19 pandemic, and also hear potential options for relief to residents and businesses that are struggling financially. That comes as calls grow from some sectors of the business community for changes to a planned property tax increase, set to be finalized in April. Mayor Ted Clugston said he’s heard the concern and there will be support from local government for local businesses, but also that other levels of government are better suited and have greater capacity to help stabilize economic activity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I have to applaud the province and the federal governments, I really do,” said Mayor Ted Clugston on Tuesday. “They are really going out quickly and trying to do everything they can. “We have to take a measured approach.” In the last 10 days Ottawa has announced close to $100 billion in spending, income tax deferrals and program increases, like those to employment insurance and other payments to citizens. A raft of measures taken by the province grows daily, including some changes already to the education levy that is collected alongside local property taxes. “When it comes to (direct income support), it’s not something (cities) are good at it, we don’t have people’s tax returns, and cities can’t run deficits,” he said. “There’s is pressure on us, and we certainly are hearing the concern.” Friday’s closed-door meeting will deal mostly with operational matters, an update for council members, but also begin discussion on further city action, said Clugston. Alan Rose, head of the Medicine Hat Rate Payers Association, said in a release this week that the city needs to signal its intentions for a planned 3.5 per cent municipal tax increase due this June. “Businesses are deciding whether or not they need to layoff employees now, the decision to defer taxes cannot be made in two or three months depending on what the other levels of government do,” he wrote. “Council needs to announce tax deferrals for business and residential and kill the announced tax hike (for 2020). “Medicine Hat is in a crisis.” Coun. Darren Hirsch, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting of the corporate services committee, said actions now will have long-term implications, and Medicine Hat may need to concentrate on stability in the medium term, while other levels of government act now. “All options will be on the table,” said Hirsch. “But we need to provide relief in the short term that won’t cause us widespread hampering (of the city’s ability) in the long term.” Most city councillors who responded to News queries last week said they favoured targeted action, but would discuss specifics, such as a tax cut or even decrease. The city has already complied with provincial government directives for utility providers to defer all bills for a period of three months as residents and businesses grapple with a harsh slowdown in economic activity and potential layoffs. As well, Alberta Municipal Affairs announced that the provincially set education levy, which is collected together with municipal property taxes, will not rise as planned this year. As well, non-residential property taxpayers will be able to defer their education levy portion – typically about one-third of the total – for six months after the June 30 tax deadline. The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association welcomed the move in a statement Tuesday, saying higher levels of government have a better ability to help both businesses and cities. “We must emphasize that municipalities will have limited ability to defer property tax, as their cashflows are already strained,” reads the statement from AUMA head Barry Morishita. “In order to be able to offer significant property tax deferrals for businesses, municipalities will require senior levels of government to offer no-interest operating loans and the provincial government to lift restrictions on cities borrowing for operational spending.” 21-20
