Whereas the current mechanisms for collecting municipal fines, though improved, still do not provide adequate provision for the collection of unpaid fines; And whereas existing effective collection mechanisms for unpaid property taxes, and current permitted special fees are in place; And whereas the available fine collection mechanisms available are time consuming, costly and onerous for local governments to undertake. Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call on the provincial government to amend the legislation to allow the addition of unpaid municipal fines related to a specific property to the permitted special fees that may be collected as property taxes, including through eventual tax sale property auction; And be it further resolved that UBCM call on the provincial government to streamline the current court online filing system for municipal fines, and investigate other efficiencies and mechanisms for collection, including any necessary corresponding legislative changes.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing As their name entails, property taxes are taxes levied against a specific property for a basket of government goods and services. Thus, unpaid property taxes represent an effective lien on the underlying property. If those outstanding taxes become delinquent, a municipality may initiate a tax sale process in year the taxes become delinquent. There is a limited range of fees and charges that are somewhat similar to property taxes because they relate to services provided to a specific property e.g. a water utility fee or a garbage pickup fee. Because of this similarity, section 258 of the Community Charter allows for these limited fees to be incorporated into taxes in arrears and ultimately linked to the tax sale process. It is important to note, this is a very limited application of the broad scope of potential fees, most of which are not eligible for inclusion as taxes in arrears. Fines and penalties like noise, parking, and nuisance violations are very different from taxes and eligible fees because they do not relate to servicing a property. Instead, they are issued for violations of civic regulations. The confiscatory authority of government including tax sale is an extremely significant power, and therefore must be used in a limited and restrained manner and under very strict rules. As fines and penalties have little or no relationship to any municipal service to properties, there is no reasonable basis for linking them to the tax sale process. There are other reasonable remedies available to local governments for levying, administering, and collecting fine violations through the Local Government Bylaw Notice Enforcement Act, Part 8 of the Community Charter ticketing of bylaw offenses, and the Offense Act. Thus, the Province is not prepared to expand section 2581 of the Community Charter special fees collected as property tax to include fine violations as part of taxes in arrears.