Municipalities in Essex-County are one step closer to eliminating a tax-rebate for vacant commercial buildings.
All seven tax-collectors agreed to move forward with a plan to kill the rebate in 2018 — there was some suggestion of reducing the plan incrementally, but the consensus is to just cut the cord.
In 1998, the Municipal Act dictated every municipality have a program that provides tax rebates to offset lost revenue for vacant commercial and industrial properties.
The Town of Essex currently gives a vacancy rebate of 30% for commercial and 35% for industrial units — Deputy Mayor Richard Meloche says it's time for it to go.
"I'm sure at one point in time there was a reason for wanting to have that kind of a program in place," he says. "Over the years what we've found is that there's no incentive for land owners to find a tenant for their buildings."
More than $311,000 in tax breaks were shelled out county-wide in 2016. The town of Essex doled out $25,000 in rebates, and Tecumseh led the way with just over $105,000.
He told AM800 News most administrators agree vacant buildings aren't something visitors want to see when they roll through town.
"We have vacancies in areas where you probably would prefer as a town or municipalities not to have those vacancies," says Meloche. "It's not that appealing to see all kinds of vacant buildings when you have people driving through your town, even vacant land as far as that goes."
Meloche says residents throughout the county will have the opportunity to be heard before a final decision is made.
"We'll give our residents an opportunity, but the tax-collectors from all seven-municipalities have recommended that we move forward on this," he says. "That will be coming back to county council at a later date as well as to each municipality, because each municipality would have to pass there own by-law."
An open house will be held at the Essex-County Civic Centre on Wednesday, Sept. 27 from 4pm to 7pm.
For more information on Vacancy Tax Rebate Program Reform visit www.countyofessex.on.ca.