Cornwall CAO Mathieu Fleury, with Coun. Fred Ngoundjo in the foreground, at Monday’s council meeting.
A motion was carried by Cornwall council to have administration prepare a report on bringing a vacant unit tax to the the city.
The new business motion was proposed by Coun. Sarah Good and seconded by Carilyne Hébert, to have an additional tax on vacant buildings for a few reasons, including improving neighborhood vitality and public safety, and increasing the overall availability of housing.
Coun. Claude McIntosh during discussion said he’s fine with hearing what administration comes up with in a report, but that’s unlikely he’d ever vote in favour of a vacant-unit tax. Previous councils have toyed with the similar idea of creating a new tax rate for vacant commercial and industrial properties, but never voted to proceed.
CAO Mathieu Fleury addressed the motion, saying administration would provide a response to it, and after that, if it got direction from council to pursue instituting the tax, there’d need to be a full financial/economic background study as per the Municipal Act requirements.
“It’s comprehensive,” Fleury said. “Under (the act), to present a vacant unit tax you have to complete the background studies on the economics that are involved.”
The motion asked the report on the feasibility of such a tax include details of how to engage the public, how to include outreach and education to inform property owners and the community about the benefits and implications of the proposed additional tax, and include an implementation process for appeals and exemptions where appropriate.