By Shaun Penner

Moved to Aug. 31

Property tax payment deadline pushed to Aug. 31 in Grande Prairie

Feb 23, 2021 | 11:59 AM

Grande Prairie City Council has voted to extend the property tax payment deadline to August 31, 2021, while also waiving July penalty fees, as well as sign-up fees and NSF charges for registering for the Tax Installment Payment Plan until that deadline.

The decision was made at Monday’s council meeting, where Mayor Jackie Clayton said it was important for council to help residents and businesses as COVID-19 and its associated public health restrictions continuing to have an impact.

“Council is in complete agreement that we are here to support our community, regardless if it’s (the) business community or residential,” said Clayton. “We want to support people in what the tax season is going to look like.”

The 2020 tax deadline was also moved to Aug. 31 last year, while they also waived the six per cent quarterly late payment fees in May and July.

Such a move did come with an impact to the city’s budget, as those late fees which were not collected accounted for an approximate $950,000 impact on the 2020 budget.

At last week’s Corporate Services Committee meeting, Director Shane Bourke said waiving the July late payment penalty would have approximately a $600,000 impact on this year’s budget. But he said a likely surplus, which will not be known until audited financial statements are ready in late spring, could make up for that impact.

“I am comfortable in saying that looking at a plan that waived future penalties… is within something council and the city could afford,” said Bourke Tuesday.

Being able to make it fit within the budget, and more importantly helping Grande Prairie ratepayers have a little bit more time to pay their taxes, is something Clayton says is a must.

“There’s three ways that we feel that we can help our community in these difficult times.”

City Hall approved a 0.15 per cent property tax increase back in November for this year. This will be added to the 1.5 per cent increase that was waived for 2020 as a credit to help deal with COVID-19, creating an actual bump of 1.65 per cent.