City council has authorized city administration to update five bylaws that deal with local improvement plan construction costs, business licences, municipal taxation, mobile home licences and property tax submission deadlines.
Council gave three unanimous readings to the amendments during its recent regular meeting. Since no one on council opposed the changes, the amendments went into effect immediately.
Uniform rates bylaw
City hall uses the uniform rates bylaw to set fixed financial costs for units of work — usually per metre of frontage — when undertaking local improvement plans (LIPs) in neighbourhoods. It also uses the bylaw to inform third parties about the cost of pursuing municipal construction work.
The new versus old costs (in square metres unless otherwise noted) are:
- Arterial road reconstruction with pavement: $160 / $175
- Collector road reconstruction with pavement: $145 / $175
- Local/residential road reconstruction with pavement: $120 / $145
- Road reconstruction with gravel: $75 / $80
- Road capping: $25 / N/A
- Road resurfacing: $40 / $45
- Separate/floating sidewalk: $250 / $260
- Sidewalk with curb and gutter (linear metre): $350 / $375
- Curb and gutter only (linear metre): $230 / $265
- Tree and stump removal (each): $1,500 / $1,700
Business licensing bylaw
The new business licensing bylaw will reflect the current standards and practices and provide updated licence fees.
In particular, the department of planning and development will now issue business licences instead of financial services, which reflects the practical process of reviewing applications for permits, a council report said.
Furthermore, the updated bylaw eliminates the need for a physical registry of licensed businesses and creates an online database instead, provides simplified language around violations for non-compliance, removes explanations of administrative processes, allows for increased flexibility in handling administrative tasks, creates regulations for specific businesses and creates — for the first time — an appeal process for individuals denied a business licence.
The fees have also been updated, including (new vs. old):
- Category A (annual revenue under $50K): $30 / $25
- Category B (annual revenue between $50K and $500K): $150 / $125
- Category C (annual revenue over $500K): $300 / $250
- Transient: $441 / $350
Property tax bylaw
The property tax bylaw establishes the municipal rates of taxation for this year, defines the classes and subclasses, and enumerates the mill rate factors for each subclass.
Furthermore, it excludes from the supplement roll property assessments that generate under $100 in taxation revenue and sets a standard base tax on all property classes to contribute to the waterworks capital fund to partially fund the cast iron replacement program and the parks and recreation capital fund.
A levy of $100 will be applied to most property classes to fund the waterworks capital expense fund and to partially fund cast iron replacement.
A levy of $65 will be applied to most property classes to fund parks and rec capital projects and the new outdoor pool.
Mobile home licensing
The purpose of the updated mobile home licensing bylaw is to establish fees for this year, establish additional annual fees for infrastructure ($100) and parks and rec ($65) initiatives, create an annual due date (June 30) to pay the additional fees and update language with fee payments to clarify monthly charges.
Tax payments, discounts, penalties
Updating the tax payments, discounts and penalties bylaw enables city hall to extend the due date for property taxes to July 31 from June 30.
The reason for this change is the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) is late in providing the city with the annual property assessments, which is delaying the municipality in issuing property tax notices for 2023. Moreover, the launch of city hall’s new software program is taking longer than expected.
Last year city hall collected $38,626 from late fees; it expects to collect slightly less this year.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, June 12.
