The City of Parksville will return to its pre-pandemic tax collection penalty scheme this year.
Unpaid property taxes will incur a five percent penalty after July 1 and again after Sept. 14, after Parksville City Council passed a new tax collection scheme bylaw during its Feb. 22 regular meeting.
Since 2020, property owners did not face a late penalty until October, according to a report to council by Marlie Boven, manager of finance.
“During the pandemic, we did not see a noticeable change in the amount of outstanding property taxes after the July due date,” Boven said.
“Therefore we don’t believe returning to a five per cent penalty in July and a five per cent penalty in September will have a significant impact on the majority of taxpayers.”
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The community charter and municipal tax regulations set the general property tax due date as July 2, along with the 10 percent penalty.
The charter also provides municipalities the option to adopt an alternative tax penalty collection scheme bylaw, which Parksville followed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The province mandated that no penalties be charged until October in 2020, and the council chose to alter the penalty dates in 2021 and 2022 due to the effects of the pandemic, Boven said.
Council voted unanimously to approve the new tax scheme collection bylaw.