Hotels’ tax request gets reaction
Group cites dramatic revenue loss, high costs for insurance, mortgages
A letter from the Niagara Falls Canada Hotel Association to city council requesting property tax relief has caught the attention of residents and other businesses.
The group sent an Oct. 16 letter to council asking for a concession on tax obligations for one year, and more time to meet those obligations. In it, executive director Doug Birrell outlined the “very precarious” position hotels are in due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Council did not discuss the issue at Tuesday’s meeting, but referred the information to staff.
“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 the industry 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.
“The four-star hotels in Niagara pay more per single room available than the average home.”
Birrell said hotels are paying
taxes based on the 2016 assessment year — “which was a banner year” — and assessment is based on revenue.
“In essence, if the assessment was being conducted this year, we would be paying 80 per cent less in taxes,” he said.
After the Niagara Falls Review published an online story about the request Oct. 23, 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.
Businessman Chris Kirkland, whose family runs Delphi Banquet Facilities on Portage Road, wrote to council about the issue.
“I think most, if not all, of you
are well acquainted with our family as we have been doing business and employing people in Niagara Falls at 4414 Portage Road for 43 years,” he wrote in the letter, which was also posted to Facebook.
Rigas said they sympathize “greatly” with the difficulty hotel owners are faced with “as we know the assistance offered to businesses through this has been nearly non-existent.”
“We understand completely their challenges with overhead costs, property taxes, insurance, etc. We also have been faced with these burdens.”
He said the family’s banquet business has been “ravaged by the limitations imposed upon us,” adding it has suffered a “near 100 per cent” loss of its banquet revenues.
“The burden of overhead costs and property taxes of a building that 85 per cent cannot generate any revenue and has not for the entirety of this pandemic with no end to restrictions in sight, is a heavy one.”
Rigas said the business has also suffered the insurance “spike that so many are dealing with.”
“It is our position that if ‘concessions’ are made to the hotel association these concessions should also be offered to other Niagara Falls commercial properties and businesses as we also play an integral role in the economic sustainability of our city. We would like to request our property also be considered for these ‘concessions,’ whatever those may be.
“Perhaps the answer lies at the feet of the province rather than locally. A strongly worded request to the province to provide interest free loans for the purpose of property tax payments so that the city is not burdened with a tax shortfall and businesses do not have to worry about interest and penalties accruing would seem prudent,” he said.
“In the interests of fairness and solidarity, any decision taken locally by this council to allow for deferments, rebates, etc. must be offered to all businesses within Niagara. After all, ‘we are all in this together.’”