By ROY WOOD

Oliver council continued its Covid-19 relief program Monday, substantially easing penalties for late payment of municipal property taxes. Residential tax bills will still be payable on July 2, but penalties for late payment are reduced to one per cent as of July 3 and a further four per cent for tax bills still not paid by October 1.

Normally, taxes are due the day after Canada Day and a 10-per-cent penalty is imposed the next day. There was considerable discussion around whether the one-per-cent on July 3 would provide any incentive.

Mayor Martin Johansen and Councillor Dave Mattes both voted against the motion to adopt the one-per-cent and four-per-cent penalties. Mattes referred to the one-per-cent penalty as “meaningless.” He said he pays about $20,000 in property taxes and, as a business decision, “I won’t be paying my taxes before Oct. 1”

Councillor Aimee Grice supported the one-per-cent/four-per-cent split. “The idea is to help people who need it,” she said. Councillor Petra Veintimilla said that while one per cent of a tax bill isn’t a lot, it will provide “a little bit of extra incentive” for people to pay their taxes on time.

One of council’s concerns was that the town collects taxes for the school board, the regional district and the hospital district. It wasn’t clear earlier when the town would be required to remit those taxes and that the town might be put in a deficit situation if property taxes weren’t paid in July. However, the province has announced that school board taxes aren’t due until the end of September that council is allowed to borrow tax-free from its own reserve accounts for any shortfall resulting from deadline variances.

Earlier in Monday’s special council meeting, members reviewed submissions from town staff on potential savings that could be made by putting off capital projects and reducing some non-essential operating expenses.

After some discussion, they decided to go ahead with planned capital projects and to maintain the operating budget. It was noted that the town’s Covid-19 relief efforts have already included elimination of the planned nine-per-cent tax increase for 2020 and substantial reductions to water utility rates. Not to mention the late-tax penalty reduction.

Water Councillor Rick Machial suggested putting off the recently-approved $150,00 reinforcement project for the so-called “Flume 3” section of the irrigation system. The work was recommended after an inspection found the structure would not be able to withstand a substantial earthquake. However, staff said that the contract has been signed and some work already started so stopping the project is impractical. Council also instructed staff to look at the purchasing rules with a view to allowing more preference for local suppliers during the pandemic-induced economic slowdown.