Property tax deferral ends today, with outstanding bills set to be charged late penalties again.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
A property tax deferral program to help Hatters cope with economic swings of the COVID-19 pandemic ends at 4:30 this afternoon.
Tax bills with amounts owing will be charged a late penalty, and administrators are stressing payments are accepted today, and that payment plan options are available.
“City council has made a real concerted effort to help those in the community that can’t afford to pay,” corporate services commissioner Dennis Egert said.
The tax due date is usually at the end of June, though that was extended to help Hatters amidst a slower economy and job losses related to the pandemic.
Egert told the News it is still too early to tell how many accounts may fall into delinquency this week, meaning either non payment or no payment plan arrangement.
The number of accounts that have prepaid taxes is higher than usual, but that could be owing to the extension and citizens clearing up accounts out of habit during the summer.
The city’s finance department reports that $6 million – almost 10 per cent of tax revenue – was prepaid via credit card in a program that required full payment by mid-August.
The city treasury waived service charges in those cases, preferring to have the cash in hand sooner.
Since the charges sit at about 2 per cent, according to city documents when the program was approved, the cost to the city treasury could be about $120,000.
“We had good uptake, and we’ll have to assess whether we want to offer it in future years, because there is a cost,” said Egert.
About one-third of the city’s 26,000 property tax accounts pay monthly amounts on a tax instalment payment plan.
Customers can pay tax bills via credit card at any time, though the fee is charged back.
Payments are also accepted at most major financial institutions, via the drop box and collections counter at city hall. Administrators are stressing remote payment options considering the policy to limit the number of people attending city hall’s main floor at one time.
Payments can also be made by mail without penalty if they are clearly post-marked no later than Sept. 30, but Egert said at this point, it’s better to insure the payment is in process by other means.
Utility bills linger
A similar program to defer utility payments this spring ended in June and finance officials report that the number of outstanding accounts has remained stubbornly high three months later.
Typically about 9 per cent of utility accounts are in some stage of default, but that rose as high as 26 per cent this spring when the province mandated gas and power providers waive late fees on bills for 90 days starting in April.
The current rate of accounts in default is 17 per cent – about equal to early July – and officials are again stressing the ability for customers to avoid mounting penalties or disconnection if payment plans are arranged.
The first round of reminder notices went out in late August, when typically disconnection process proceeds after 60 days in arrears.
