By Adam Ophus

Property Taxes

Rocky waiving property tax penalties while Clearwater County plans to take different approach

Apr 16, 2020 | 2:48 PM

Two local municipalities are taking different approaches when it comes to giving residents and business a break when it comes to property tax payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Town of Rocky Mountain House has decided to waive the 4 per cent property tax penalty in August and the 6% increase in October for the fiscal year.

The deadline to pay property taxes in Rocky Mountain House is July 31.

Last year those penalties resulted in $40,000 in revenue for the town. The loss of that projected revenue this year will have an impact in the upcoming operating budget, officials note, but is intended to provide relief to residents struggling financially at this time.

The Town will also be waiving future fees for its sani-dump until the Visitor Information Centre opens back up to the public.

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Clearwater County, meantime, is planning to take a different approach.

On Tuesday, Council agreed that waiving the penalty fees would be noble, however Finance Manager Rhonda Serhan explained that administration are fine if they were to push the date further back, but removing or reducing the penalty could be bad.

“The big worry is what if everyone looks at our low penalty rate and decides that it’s better than what they can get at the bank and no one pays, what then?” Serhan explained.

She said that the property tax penalty plan is the best course of action, and that the amount of new tax rolls taking that route has been increasing each month exponentially.

Council agreed on leaving the current penalties of eight per cent.

It was Councillor Jim Duncan that suggested residents perhaps needed additional help, and that they could take from the stabilization fund and reduce taxes this year.

The county currently has $12 million in its reserve funds.

“We should dip into the rainy day fund, because if it’s for a rainy day, now we’re hailing,” Councillor Cammie Laird commented.

Councillor Theresa Laing mentioned that she would like to see administration come back to Council with various scenarios of possibly spending 1, 2, 3, and even 5 million of the reserve funds to cover the cost of reducing taxes.

Director of Corporate Services Murray Hagan gave council a rough estimate that $5 million would be able to reduce taxes overall for the County by 10 per cent.

Worries arose amongst council of the possibility of these struggles continuing for multiple years and that it’s easy to reduce taxes, but much harder to put them back up.

Councillor Daryl Lougheed ended the meeting by suggesting offering the public a tax percentage reduction for paying early as an incentive.

Clearwater County Council will look at what their administration team brings back to them and will make their decision in their next meeting.