Stettler county council voted 5 to 2 to uphold late penalties after a taxpayer admitted they forgot to pay their tax bill on time. The vote was held at the Nov. 13 regular meeting of council.
Councillors heard a report from Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Yvette Cassidy and Tax Clerk Sharon Larsen that included a request from an unidentified taxpayer that their $2,531 in late penalties be forgiven.
“The ratepayer is asking council’s consideration for forgiveness on the 2024 November penalty of $2,540.59 due to an error of not paying taxes by the tax deadline,” stated Larsen’s memo to council.
“They forgot to pay their taxes before leaving on Oct. 27.
“They hope that council can see this as a simple mistake on their part and forgive the penalty. They indicated that they tried to pay online but were not able to. The owner has 16 separate roll numbers or parcels.”
Larsen clarified the ratepayer came in to talk about the penalties the day after the Oct. 31 deadline.
“The ratepayer came in first thing on Nov. 1, where the ratepayer was advised that there would be penalty added and council is the only one who could cancel penalty,” stated the memo.
“County of Stettler’s Bylaw 815-93 – Penalties on Taxes indicates that taxes not paid by the last working day in October in any year in which they are levied shall have a penalty of 10 per cent imposed on Nov. 1 of that year.
“The tax and assessment notices were sent out in June 2024. Ratepayers then have five months to pay their taxes in various ways prior to the deadline to avoid any penalty.”
Cassidy stated property taxes are due Oct. 31 and some stragglers come in to the office Nov. 1 hoping to pay their taxes but avoid the late penalty, “…but Oct. 31 is the deadline,” she added. Cassidy observed staff can’t forgive penalties, only council has the authority to do that.
Coun. James Nibourg stated this ratepayer is in his division and spoke to the property owner about this problem. Nibourg stated he wouldn’t consider waiving penalties on the residential properties but felt waiving penalties on other properties such as businesses was fair.
Nibourg stated that the County of Stettler wants to encourage business and councillors forgave about $43,000 in penalties for a different business “across the street,” while the county has also forgiven penalties for oil and gas companies in the past. Nibourg made a motion that half of the penalties be forgiven.
Coun. Les Stulberg stated the ratepayer had about six months to pay their taxes and was opposed to any forgiveness.
“To me, you had since June to pay the thing,” said Stulberg.
Nibourg asked Stulberg to clarify his response; Stulberg stated the $43,000 forgiveness was for a new business unfamiliar with the County of Stettler.
Coun. Justin Stevens stated he saw business growth as linked to tax incentives, but late penalties aren’t tax incentives.
“The point of the [penalty] is to ensure everyone pays on time,” said Stevens.
Stevens added that he saw tax penalty forgiveness as a question of being fair and equitable and if a request like the current one was granted then councillors are faced with granting other similar requests.
Nibourg’s motion was defeated by a 5 to 2 vote, Nibourg and Stevens in favour of forgiveness, the rest of council opposed.
Stu Salkeld
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
ECA Review
