City hall plans to discontinue the printing and mailing of property tax pre-payment notices to save roughly $10,000 on administrative costs and reduce the amount of paper used for billing.
During its Nov. 14 regular meeting, council unanimously agreed to discontinue the printing and mailing of property tax pre-payment notices starting this December and replace the notices with a “strong communications program.”
The annual cost to mail pre-payment notices is roughly $11,900, while the net savings on discontinuing the mailing would be $9,000 to $10,000 since there would be some costs to advertise and promote the discount period, a council report said.
As part of the annual property tax cycle, city administration produces and mails a pre-payment notice in December to remind property owners about the discount period and the status of their property tax accounts, the report explained.
Property owners receive a one-per-cent discount if they make a payment between Jan. 1 and March 31 of each year; that discount will continue.
Finance director Brian Acker told council that about 20 per cent of property owners take advantage of the early discount by participating in the monthly Tax Installment Payment Plan Service (TIPPS) program.
However, with 80 per cent of people not participating in TIPPS, he thought it was pointless to continue sending physical notices; it was also a waste to spend $12,000 on printing, mailing and labour.
Instead of mailing out notices, city hall plans to conduct a communications campaign on social media, on the city’s website, via its customer service staff and through other media to remind property owners that the discount period is still in effect during the annual three-month period, the report said.
The document noted that the installation of the new property tax module with the new Enterprise Resource Program (ERP) system prompted city hall to review many of the processes with the annual property tax cycle.
City hall could soon send out pre-payment tax notices to residents by email, while its new Virtual City Hall program is almost ready to provide information to taxpayers, said Acker. However, because of the migration to the new system, that program is slightly delayed as city hall works out some bugs.
City administration surveyed 13 Saskatchewan municipalities and learned only three cities — besides Moose Jaw — offer early payment discounts on municipal tax payments, the report said.
“Cities that offer discounts no longer send out notices but are using social media to promote the discount periods in their city or are including information on the annual property tax notice,” stated the report.
“Many of the cities in the province … no longer offer pre-payment discounts and haven’t for several years.”
City hall believes promoting the discount period could work just as well as mailing the pre-payment notice, the document added. Furthermore, property tax information is available on the city’s website, so people who pay property taxes can find that information there using their address.
Mayor Clive Tolley said several people have contacted him and asked why they have received two tax notices. However, based on city administration’s explanation of the situation, he said he can now tell people there is a difference between the pre-payment notice and the actual assessments.
“That’s a confusion we’ve (also) noticed in finance. People get the pre-payment notice and think it’s the actual tax notice for the year,” said Acker. “The actual notice is higher because of the mill rate. We usually have to explain that to people.”
Coun. Heather Eby thought eliminating the paper notices was acceptable but hoped the communications plan was solid and front-desk staff were well-versed in the changes, so residents weren’t too confused with the changes.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Nov. 27.
