Kamloops council has voted to spread out the penalty for property taxes that aren’t paid on time.

Property owners will be levied a five-per-cent fee if they haven’t paid their property taxes as of July 31, and another five per cent if they haven’t paid by Oct. 1.

The property tax deadline is July 2, and in a normal year a 10 per cent penalty is levied the next day if property taxes are not paid on time.

“We have to really think about folks who have tried as hard as they can, and for whatever reason can’t meet their obligations. And then we have to lobby them, we have to work with them… But I just think there might be some gaps we have to think about as we go through the process,” councillor Arjun Singh says.

By an 8-1 vote, council settled on the 5-per-cent split after debating options presented by city staff, with councillor Denis Walsh the only member against it.

The other options included a one-per-cent penalty on July 31 and a nine-per-cent penalty on Oct. 1, and also a two-per-cent penalty on July 31 and an eight-per-cent penalty on Oct. 1. Walsh had proposed the 1-9 split instead of 5-5, but that was defeated with councillor Mike O’Reilly being the only other councillor voting in favor of it.

Council is also giving relief on interest owed on utility payments, voting today to waive interest on unpaid balances until Dec. 31. That waiver is retroactive to March 31.

In that same time period of March 31 to Dec. 31, council has also voted unanimously to remove fees related to collecting property taxes and utility payments. Those include charges for non-sufficient funds ($25), charges for account transfers and refunds ($25), and fees on mailing out additional property tax or utility notices ($2). In 2019, the city collected $11,531 on those fees.