After making a number of phone calls to residents, Battleford Director of Finance David Gillan has recommended the Town of Battleford not go to third party collections at this time for overdue taxes.
At the end of December, the town had about $659,000 in taxes owing. The number includes both property tax and the education portion of taxes, which the town collects on behalf of school divisions, Gillan said.
Between the end of December 2018 and March 2019, the town phoning and sending letters resulted in the collection of between $70,000 and $80,000.
Gillan said he sent more than 100 letters at the beginning of April, and gave residents a deadline of the end of May to pay their taxes owe or make a plan, or else more steps would be taken.
A sum of $55,000 arrived in April, down to a total owing of about $523,000, and about $51,000 arrived in May.
As of June 10, the amount owing was about $445,000, which is close to the amount owing at the end of 2016.
Gillan added about $175,000 of that money was in a payment plan. An additional $57,000 is owing from the trailer park, although collecting tax from such properties involves more steps than usual since the property and the land can have two different owners.
Another measure the Town could take for owners of properties that rent out units, Gillan said, is found under section 321 of the Municipalities Act. Tenants could pay rent directly to the town if property owners don’t pay their taxes owing.
At a previous town council meeting, council had discussed the idea of employing a third party tax collection agency to collect outstanding taxes.
But Gillan advised against the idea. At this point people are struggling, he said, and “there’s no need now for the town to go [the way] of needing people to pay the last $500 to $1,000 immediately.”
Gillan also recommended the town follow a similar proactive tax collection approach every year.
