OLDS — Council has, in essence, turned down a request from a local business owner to forgive late tax payment penalties.
The total bill for the taxes on two rolls, levied in 2021 and 2022 and paid last November, totalled $14,205.08.
During its Feb. 13 meeting, at the advice of chief administrative officer Brent Williams, council voted to receive the business owner’s request for late tax payment forgiveness as information.
That way, Williams said, that tactic is “essentially turning down the request to have the tax penalties forgiven.”
“The recommendation is not based on our feeling of the validity or lack thereof, it’s more of the procedure that the municipality generally follows for late payment of taxes,” he said.
The name of the property owner and other details that could identify business were redacted in a letter from that owner contained in council’s agenda package.
In a letter to council, the property owner said the business was "financially challenged from the effects of COVID. We did our best to keep our employees working and they were our priority.”
However, “while administration understands the effect that COVID had on all businesses and residents alike, the Town of Olds did implement several relief measures over the two-year period,” finance director Sheena Linderman wrote in a request for decision.
“Forgiving these penalties will result in a loss to the town’s overall revenue and could set (precedent) for other properties that may be in a similar situation to make these requests.”
