All residents will receive details of the Wildfire Tax Relief program by mail in the coming weeks now that staff have worked out a plan for how each homeowner’s taxes will be assessed and a plan for a refund for those who already paid their taxes.
Municipal property taxes were technically due on August 31, 2016, but because council passed a motion on May 31, in the wake of the wildfire, to impose zero late fee penalties until after December 31, 2016, many residents were waiting until that time to pay their taxes.
All residents will get a letter in the coming weeks with details on exactly what their own residential property tax credit will look like. The credits will differ based on whether you lost a home, had restricted access to your home for May only, or were restricted from accessing your home for a longer period of time.
All residents who owned property before the fire will be credited for the month of May. Homeowners who lost a home will be credited for the month of May and will be charged taxes for the value of their property only for June 1 to December 31, 2016. Homeowners restricted from accessing their homes because of orders from the Chief Medical Officer of Health will be credited for the month of May in addition to a credit for every day on which they have been restricted from accessing their home.
Every residential property owner who was on title on May 3, 2016 will receive details about the amount of cancelled taxes they are entitled to under this program.
All residential property tax accounts will automatically have a credit applied to their accounts.
Owners that have already paid their 2016 property taxes in full will have the option to request a refund of the credit amount applied to their tax account.
The move to change the rates of property taxes charged for people across the region was approved by council on August 30, 2016.
Council passed a motion under Section 347 of the Municipal Government Act cancelling a portion of the municipal property tax for residential properties for the 2016 tax year due to the wildfire. This was based on a recommendation from the Wood Buffalo Recovery Committee.
