Councillors in the County of Grande Prairie will soon be mulling over whether or not to extend the deadline for property taxpayers for the second year in a row.
In 2020, property owners in the County of Grande Prairie weren’t penalized for making their payments beyond the traditional June 30th deadline, with penalties for late payments waived if the payment was before October 31st.
Reeve Leanne Beaupre says members of council will look to start that conversation over the next couple of weeks as they wait to finalize their final budget.
“Our final budget deliberations are set for the first part of April and we are really waiting on some items, [like] our requisitions and linear assessment that is assessed by the province,” she says.
“We do an interim budget in December and a final budget in April, and at that time council will be determining whether we follow suit from last year,” she says.
Beaupre says while no decision has been made, she believes that everyone around the table is all too aware that both residents and business owners are now a year into the pandemic and economic crisis, and despite a light at the end of the tunnel, problems remain.
“I think there are people who certainly have had and will see further stress on their finances,” she says.
“Council will be very cognizant of the fact they’re heard from their residents, and they’ve heard from industry, and we will be looking to see whatever we can do to help them out.”
In November, councillors voted for no increase in tax rates as part of their interim 2021 budget.