A downtown Windsor hotel has been granted a tax waiver by city council.
Council approved a tax break of $363,642 for the Hotel Inn Express at 33 Riverside Drive East between Ouellette and Goyeau.
Since March, the hotel has been used by Windsor Regional Hospital staff during the COVID-19 pandemic after an agreement was reached between both parties.
Councillor Rino Bortolin voted in favour of the tax relief for one of the only hotels to step up during the crisis.
"Recognizing that as well as the fact that they're taking big hits both financially and even potentially reputational," he added.
Regardless of the contribution during the pandemic, Bortolin says the waiver fits the guidelines of the program.
"Our legal department felt that they fulfilled all the criteria for the waiver, so this is something that we wanted to be seen as working in lock step with one of our community partners," he says.
He says owner Smuel Farhi will be asked to continue to pay the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association portion of the annual tax levy.
Bortolin says it amounts to around $24,000.
"I think it's a fair conversation to have to basically ask him to continue to make that levy payment regardless of the outcome of the waiver," says Bortolin.
Mayor Drew Dilkens says about 50 workers continue to call the hotel home.
The matter was first brought to Windsor city council in May but council asked for an administrative report.
The tax break is in place until the end of the year.
— with files from AM800's Gord Bacon