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Eckville council drops residental tax penalties admist pandemic

The penalty for unpaid taxes after Sept. 30, 2020 has decreased from 12 per cent to 2 per cent
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File Photo.

Residential tax payers in Eckville will see a property tax payment relief in response to COVID-19.

At the regular meeting of on April 27, council gave first, second and third reading to approve the new Tax Rate Bylaw.

The new bylaw states all current taxes remaining unpaid after Sept. 30, 2020 be levied a two per cent penalty, which will be added to and form part of the unpaid taxes.

This change is a 10 per cent decrease from the previous penalty of 12 per cent.

Administration recommended the penalty be somewhere within the 2 per cent to six per cent range, with council making the decision to drop down to the low end during the extraordinary times.

The unpaid tax penalty after Dec. 31 is staying the same at 10 per cent. The levy will be added to and form part of the unpaid tax arrears.

Additionally, also in a response to the pandemic, council voted to prohibit the holding of garage sales in the Town of Eckville until further notice.

The issue was initially brought during a meeting of Eckville’s Virtual Incident Command (ICP) on April 23.

The next scheduled regular meeting of council is May 11.