The city of Kamloops says it has collected 90 per cent of all property taxes this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Revenue and Taxation Manager Cara Dawson tells NL News that as of September 15, 98 per cent of residential taxes and 71 per cent of commercial taxes had been paid.
“We feel quite fortunate. We didn’t know what people would be able to pay,”she said. “We are hopeful that we can collect the majority of the rest of the commercial taxes hopefully in the next little bit so that people avoid penalties and therefore we’ll be at a good rate to fund all the essential services in the city.”
The September figures are up slightly from July where 82 per cent of all property taxes – 92 per cent of residential and 56 per cent of commercial taxes – were paid ahead of the July 2 deadline.
Property taxes are generally due on July 2, before a penalty is applied. This year, the deadline was extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So there was one penalty already that has passed and that was the end of July but the one coming up on October 1 is the second of those, an additional five per cent for residential taxes,” Dawson added.
“And additionally, our commercial deadline is coming up. It is also October 1, and so any unpaid commercial amounts will be getting a penalty of 10 per cent.”
Dawson is also reminding people to claim their Home Owner Grants as any outstanding tax amount relating to these grants will be penalized 10 per cent on October 1.
“It’s been a really challenging year because there have been so many uncertainties,” she said. “We did try to message out to people that if they had the funds to pay their property taxes if they could because obviously that does very strongly relate to the services that the city provides, and it is our biggest revenue source.”
You can pay your taxes in one of several ways with the information on the back of your property tax notice and or online here. You can also contact the city at 250-828-3437 or by email.