March 24 council briefs: City staff investigating tax-deferral program

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After this year’s 5.46 per-cent property tax increase had many residents worried about their bills, Stratford city council approved the investigation of a deferral program.

At the March 24 meeting, Coun. Mark Hunter originally asked staff to investigate a deferral program that extends to all residents, with special mind to a deferral of tax increases rather than a full deferral.

However, a number of councillors expressed preference for a deferral program that is only accessible for those of “financial hardship,” such as residents with Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), on Ontario Disability Support Payment (ODSP) and seniors. The reason being, as Coun. Taylor Briscoe said, the city could reassess after a year and expand the limited program if it’s working, rather than shrink a full-fledged program if it isn’t.

Tax-deferral programs exist in other municipalities to varying degrees. As noted in the staff report, any deferral program would have some economic impact on the budget as the levy increases would still need to be born by taxpayers, effectively meaning other taxpayers would need to bear the burden.

“If programs were to be limited to low-income households and any forgiveness limited to a portion of the current-year increases, it is not expected that this would have a significant budget impact,” the staff report reads. “However, if more substantive programs were implemented, the financial effect would be to transfer this element of the burden for these taxpayers to another subset of taxpayers (those who receive a benefit pay less, and those who do not, pay more for this benefit to be provided to others).”

American flag will remain raised on city property

After Coun. Geza Wordofa inquired about the use of the American flag on city property, Mayor Martin Ritsma said that given the anti-Canadian rhetoric coming from the current U.S. administration, it is something that many residents have brought up with him.

In response, and after reaching out to the province for some guidance, Ritsma said the flag will continue to fly as the Canadian-American relationship is much deeper than recent developments – especially in the Festival City.

“In our municipality, we do receive 1.7 million visitors a year, and 500,000 of those visitors are Americans. And Americans, when they tend to come, they tend to stay longer. And if you stay long, you spend more money.

“It's an emotional issue when somebody calls us out as the 51st state, and somebody is indicating that they're going to economically drive us into, you know, non-country,” Ritsma went on to say. “But I do believe Canada is far stronger than any of those questions or comments, and it's not to say that at some point down the road, if the rhetoric heightens, that we can't revisit this.”