City extends deadline as tax notices sent out

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Calgarians will be receiving some mail from the city over the coming weeks, but don’t fret if you can’t pay immediately.

Over half a million property tax notices have been issued to homeowners and businesses lately, with the rest due to arrive in mailboxes over the next couple of weeks.

But in the name of providing some assistance during these times, the city is also extending a deadline on payment.

Instead of having to pay by June 30, the deadline has been pushed back to September 30, without any interest or penalties if you choose to wait.

“We know many Calgarians are facing financial challenges because of COVID-19,” city manager David Duckworth said.

In addition, these are the first bills that show the impact of tax changes implemented by city council, where they shifted the tax burden away from businesses and towards homeowners to reflect the tough economic times that existed even before the pandemic hit.

“This means that non-residential property owners will receive a combined provincial and municipal tax decrease of 12 per cent. Residential property owners will see a combined provincial and municipal tax increase of 7.5 per cent,” Duckworth detailed.

Duckworth said this is a “more equitable” situation that ensures businesses have more to stay afloat, while the increase reflects an average of 67 cents more per day paid toward property taxes for homeowners.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi is hopeful this delay is of assistance, while the tax shift isn’t too much of a burden on homeowners but succeeds at giving relief to businesses.

“We wanted to take a little bit of that pressure off of people’s shoulders who are feeling financial difficulty,” he said.

Going more into the finances, Nenshi said the city continues to hemorrhage money to the tune of $10-15 million dollars per week, with Calgary Transit the hardest affected.

This put the city in a tough situation where they faced a deficit stretching into nine figures, with little chance of making up the lost cash by the end of the year.

Nenshi continued to call for support from the provincial and federal governments as it is against municipal laws for the city to run a deficit.

He also called on people to contact the city on concerns about transit, as service hours were reduced again on Monday to help cut down on the lost money — even though it comes at the same time as more businesses open and more people are likely to take trains and buses.