To ease the current financial strain faced by many property owners in Mission, Mayor and Council approved a motion at Monday night’s Regular Council Meeting to delay the penalty date for late payment of residential property taxes to after September 30, 2020.
“It’s our prerogative as Council to provide some relief where we can while we’re all in the thick of the COVID-19 crisis,” said Mayor Pam Alexis. “Supporting residents at a time when many need it most is critical to our community’s resilience.”
Although delaying the collection of property taxes will have an impact on the District’s cash reserves until taxes are collected in September, Council is hopeful this extra time will alleviate some of the pressure faced by taxpayers impacted by the pandemic.
Taxpayers who are able to pay their taxes by the July 2nd due date are encouraged to do so.
“We know taxpayers are facing many unparalleled challenges because of COVID-19 and we hope that what the District and federal and provincial governments are doing will make coping a little easier,” said Doug Stewart, Director of Finance at the District of Mission. “Property tax bills include the taxes levied by the Fraser Valley Regional District and the Hospital District and we must send them 100% of their requisitions on August 1st regardless of whether we’ve received the payment.”
“The District is also preparing contingency plans to defer some large capital projects until 2021 if we find a large number of taxpayers are not able to pay their taxes on time, but we are optimistic it will not be necessary to implement them,” he said.
This measure is in addition to a previous motion by Council in April to delay the metered utility billing due date by three months and waive several charges and fees, such as service and administrative fees for N.S.F cheques and the I Love Mission initiative to support local businesses.
More information on the District of Mission’s response to COVID-19 can be found at mission.ca/covid-19.