Welland council not in favour of NRH tax exemption

Welland unanimously agreed to follow staff recommendation to not support a regional council motion to exempt Niagara Regional Housing properties from taxes.

While the Region ultimately has the final decision, it is seeking input from the lower-tier municipalities. If approved, the exemption would eliminate or reduce NRH’s operating budget. In doing so, money that would have normally gone to property taxes could instead be used in other matters. NRH’s programs and services provide and advocate for quality affordable housing throughout the region.

Steve Zorbas, Welland treasurer, had concerns with this, which he indicated in a report to council and discussed at the meeting Tuesday night.

One concern is the loss of roughly $700,000 in combined property taxes over time. The other is the burden of the exempt taxes being shifted to single family dwelling owners.

Staff’s report also indicated “exempting the properties but continuing to provide the $4.8 million in budget dollars to NRH will increase (the) regional tax rate by 0.63 (per cent),” which is where it falls back to the other property owners.

“We believe that proceeding with this tax exemption will create a negative financial impact,” Zorbas told council.

He said these assessments are also outdated as figures in the report are based on 2016 values.

“Staff are recommending that the Region consider developing a white paper,” he continued.

A white paper would include “significant public consultation with numerous stakeholders” with all levels of government to respond to the challenges faced by Niagara Regional Housing. It would also better outline exactly how funds are used.

Councillors agreed with the staff recommendation, not wanting to burden other residents. More transparency and more precise answers, they felt, would also be beneficial to understanding just how this plan would work and if it would effectively reduce wait times and other issues such as that.

“Maybe Niagara Regional Housing has some of those answers, but I haven’t seen (them),” said Mayor Frank Campion.

Zorbas said the Region would “consider” giving transitional grants to lowertier municipalities to counteract the loss in realty taxes, but he said single-family homeowners would still see a tax increase.

Ward 4 Coun. Tony Dimarco wasn’t comfortable with the term “consider” and agreed there are a lot of concerns with this plan.

Campion said he will bring back all councillors’ thoughts and concerns to the regional table.