Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie, left, and CAO John Enns-Wind shown at council Monday. The town is looking at ways to recover outstanding property taxes that now sit at roughly half a million dollars. (Angela Brown/battlefords NOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

In the chambers

Town cracking down on outstanding property taxes

Apr 2, 2019 | 9:18 AM

The gravy train may be coming to an end for Battleford residents who have been lax in paying their municipal property taxes.

Council heard the town is dealing with roughly half a million dollars in outstanding taxes at its meeting Monday. As a result, council directed administration to call and send a letter to residents with taxes in arrears, urging them to make arrangements to pay their outstanding balance.

Mayor Ames Leslie said delinquent ratepayers who habitually don’t pay their taxes will be at the top of the list.

“Those are definitely ones the town will focus on and try to make arrangements to get cleaned up,” he said following the meeting.

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The town relies on tax dollars to cover its operating expenses, so having a significant amount of money in arrears is challenging.

“It really makes it tough for us to pave your streets, to fix your sidewalks, to make your life better in the community,” Leslie said.

Finance Director David Gillan stated in his report, as of March 31 a total of $579,136 was owing in outstanding taxes.

As of Dec. 31, 2018, $659,744 was in arrears, over $100,000 more than the $525,805 owing at the same time in 2017.

At the end of March, 33 ratepayers owed a total of $287,260, the bulk of the taxes outstanding. A total of 108 owed $250,571, while 80 ratepayers were behind in paying the remaining $41,305 to make up the total $579,136 balance outstanding.

Council wanted the town to work with those struggling with financial issues and arrange a plan so ratepayers could manage to pay their outstanding taxes over a set time period.

Gillan suggested some of the increase in outstanding taxes owing may be due in part to a downturn in the economy. He suggested using a firm called TAXervice that specializes in tax arrears recovery for municipalities.

While council was opposed to administration’s proposal to hire the third-party enforcement service at this time and outsource tax enforcement, it may consider the idea in the future.

Gillan will report back to council in June on his progress in trying to knock down the taxes outstanding.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW