OLDS — Town council has turned down a request from a resident to waive her tax penalty because she was recovering from a heart attack.
The matter came up during council’s Aug. 28 meeting.
Councillors were torn.
The amount of the penalty was considered pretty minor: $84.47, and they were sympathetic to the taxpayer’s plight, having undergone such major surgery.
But they were also concerned that if they waived the penalty that could set a precedent and they’d be beset with similar requests.
The taxpayer, whose name is redacted in the town council agenda, wrote, “I would very much appreciate it if you would kindly refund the penalty, $84.47.
“I was in hospital and at home recovering from major heart surgery. I was unable/incapable of paying the taxes by the deadline date.
“I feel that paying the penalty is unfair under the circumstances.”
Councillors Wanda Blatz, Heather Ryan and Darren Wilson stressed that while they sympathize with the taxpayer’s plight, the possibility of setting a precedent if the requested relief was granted was just too great.
“I’m really not in favour of supporting paying out this sort of penalty – particularly too, when we take our utility arrears and put them on our taxes right away and we don’t give anybody any flexibility on that, so I’m afraid of opening some kind of precedent,” Blatz said.
"It’s unfortunate that she couldn’t have had someone come on her behalf,” Blatz added.
She suggested council could perhaps require such people to provide a note from a doctor or the hospital, “something to back up your unfortunate circumstances.”
Ryan said although she sympathized with the fact the taxpayer had to undergo that operation and recover from it, she could have paid her taxes before going into the hospital.
Wilson said on the one hand “$85 is not a significant amount.” On the other hand, though, he too expressed concern about setting that precedent.
“Maybe this is another reason to have automatic withdrawls around taxes,” he said.
Coun. James Cummings wondered whether such issues need to come to council for a decision. If so, he wondered whether legislation with that requirement could be changed.
"Under the MGA (Municipal Government Act), council is the only one that can cancel any sort of tax, whether it’s penalties, earlier, whatever,” finance director Sheen Linderman said.
“I would have to find out if we can put this within the bylaw that perhaps under a certain threshold administration can make that decision, as opposed to coming to council.”
The lone voice in favour of cancelling the penalty came from Coun. Harvey Walsh. He advanced a motion to do just that.
“I have no problem supporting this,” Walsh said. “Trying to guess when somebody should have paid their taxes, a heart attack could happen at any time.”
Mayor Judy Dahl agreed with the majority of councillors.
She agreed the request had “a very compassionate component to it.”
“I do support the family and trust that everything’s well with them,” she said.
However, Dahl echoed the concerns about precedent setting, saying councillors are “stewards of 10,000 people in this town.”
Dahl said she’d like administrative staff to come to council with “something more clear” about how to handle issues like “unforeseen medical circumstances.”
