Tax breaks must be fair, council told
City cannot comply with request by hotels, finance director says
Niagara Falls cannot grant property tax relief solely to one specific group, says the city’s finance director Tiffany Clark.
Aletter from the Niagara Falls Canada Hotel Association to city council requesting a concession on tax obligations for one year, and more time to meet those obligations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was referred to staff at last week’s meeting.
While staff plan to report back at council’s Dec. 8 meeting about possible 2021 property tax concessions, Clark said the municipality has been sending out a response to residents inquiring about the subject.
After the Niagara Falls Review published an online story Oct. 23 regarding the hotel association’s request, several residents chimed in on social media saying council should not grant concessions to one or certain segments of the population, arguing the pandemic has impacted everyone in some way.
Clark said the hope was for the response to “put minds at ease” that council cannot grant the hotel association’s request, “strictly as requested.”
“Our council and staff are aware of what a difficult year this has been for all taxpayers, residential and commercial, and as such have introduced a number of concessions for all taxpayers since the beginning of COVID,” she said.
Those include five months of no penalties on property tax payments from April 1 to Aug. 31; allowing residents an additional five months to pay without penalty; and reducing the penalty rate by 60 per cent — from 1.25 per cent per month to 0.50 per month — for Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.
Council will look again at the issue at the Dec. 8 meeting to determine if any concessions are “necessary” for 2021 and review options, said Clark.
“In the meantime, the hotel association’s request is listed as referred to staff and I believe council is already aware that the hotel association’s request cannot be granted by council, strictly as requested,” she said.
“Per the Municipal Act, all tax groups must be treated the same and as such, council does not have the authority to grant concessions solely to hotels/ motels.”
Clark said if there are any future concessions given for 2021, they would be applied to all tax groups equally.
“And/or any future programs created for property tax relief would have specific eligibility criteria allowing both residential and commercial to apply should each meet said eligibility criteria, and should a program of that nature be allowed as per the Municipal Act, which is our requirement as a municipality to follow.”
In an Oct. 16 letter, hotel association executive director Doug Birrell outlined the “very precarious” position hotels are in due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We understand that this is an extraordinary request, but the situation calls for extraordinary assistance,” wrote Birrell, adding the industry is in “acute” need for liquidity assistance, from all forms of government.
He said it has been left carrying high costs and overhead, “very” high mortgage obligations and “skyrocketing” insurance costs, adding hotels incur a “very” high property tax burden on a per-room basis.
Businessperson Chris Rigas, whose family runs Delphi Banquet Facilities on Portage Road, also wrote to council about the issue, saying they understand the challenges hotel owners face, adding they’ve also dealt with those burdens.
He said any concessions made to the hotel association should also be offered to other Niagara Falls commercial properties and businesses.
“After all, ‘ we are all in this together,’” said Rigas.