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   2008

City of Windsor 2008 Tax Policies

April 21, 2008

Letter to Mayor Francis and Members of City Council:

The Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce (“Chamber”) commends the City and its Administration for its continued efforts to improve the property tax framework in light of the interests of the residential and business sectors. 

As the voice of business in Windsor & Essex County, the tax policies and methodologies employed by the City impact our members whose interests are carefully weighed as we are both residential and business tax payers in the community.  In assessing the merits of such municipal decisions, over the years, we set out underlying principles to abide by,

1.      Transparency for greater openness and continuous improvement in its fiscal processes.

2.      Fairness in taxation for more equitable tax distribution ensuring all tax categories pay their fair share.

3.      Competitiveness relative to municipalities in the Province, as the benchmark to build a more sustainable and vibrant Windsor.

As such, we agree that the interests of the business sector are generally in favour of lower tax ratios, arguing that reducing ratios and thereby tax rates, stimulates economic development in the community, which creates jobs that support the residential tax base.  It also makes us more competitive with other municipal jurisdictions, a consideration by new and existing businesses to locate and invest here.

Furthermore, Council acknowledges that comparative studies done across various municipalities in the Province indicate that Windsor has a generally higher than average tax burden in the multi residential and industrial classes.  The argument that this higher tax rate is offset by lower than average assessments is not justifiable as it could be applied on any of the tax classes, is a direct result of economic conditions and more importantly, does not address the issue of fairness. 

The Chamber has strongly advocated for reform in the property tax framework to better align the interests of businesses and residents.  In view of that, we do not expect that our Council could effect a ratio reduction to bring the large industrial class within the Provincial acceptable level in one year and believe the scenario provided by Administration to be an unrealistic, political one.  Instead, it has been our position that City and its Administration commit to a three year plan to meet the goal and objective of a ratio reduction and more fair alignment of tax rates among the classes.  Such action alone sends a strong message to the business community that Windsor boasts a fair, competitive and transparent place to do business, to create jobs and to support its residents. 

We know that such actions taken by Council requires the strong support of businesses and that without this support, Council and City Administration do not have the tools, research and hard facts to effect such change. We want to help.

The opinion of our members is unique in that it represents and thus balances both the interests of residents and businesses. The Chamber is committed to working with you as a community partner to effect change and therefore, will embark over the next few months to engage our members through surveys, focus groups and meetings to validate our principles and provide you with the results and data from these efforts to support possible reform.  

The Chamber is looking forward to working with the City of Windsor to create the best possible business climate for our business community and thus, residents.  We believe and will prove to you that the ripple effect of good decisions - strong economic development initiatives from property tax reform, leads to strong economic growth, leads to strong job creation and a prosperous residential base – is true.

   2007

NO PROPERTY TAX REBATE FOR INDUSTRIAL LANDS

A proposed amendment to the Municipal Act, 2001 will end the refund or rebate of all or a part of property taxes paid on property for industrial and commercial facilities undergoing repairs or renovations.

The proposed amendment will in effect eliminate the opportunity for industrial taxpayers, and, with limited exception, commercial taxpayers to qualify for the property tax up to 100% of the property taxes paid on the vacant portion of property.

Industrial taxpayers will now be restricted to applying for a 35% rebate (commercial -  30% rebate) of property taxes under the vacant unit rebate in Section 364,  i.e. a tax rebate to owners of property that has vacant portions, if that property is in any of the commercial or industrial classes (s. 364).

Eliminating the opportunity to utilize the rebate on land for commercial and industrial property classes removes an incentive for companies to reinvest in their facilities by building, renovating, expanding production lines etc.  It is also discriminatory as this incentive is available to other property classes such as multi-residential, even though it was intended to benefit the commercial and industrial classes following the elimination of the business occupancy tax in 1998.

Any feedback from our industrial and commercial members would be passed to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce as they will be responding to the provincial government on this issue. Contact Igor Siljanoski at 966-3696 ext. 28 or by sending an email at isiljanoski@windsorchamber.org. 

CHAMBER'S CITY OF WINDSOR 2007 BUDGET POLICY SUBMISSIONS 

Addressing the City of Windsor 2007 Budget, the Chamber spoke on behalf of the business community in delivering the following presentations and submissions:

CHAMBER CALLS FOR SUSTAINED ECONOMIC GROWTH 

Windsor & District Chairman of the Board Peter Hrastovec outlined three priorities in the Chamber’s presentation at the City of Windsor 2007 final budget deliberations. They included a reduction of property taxes businesses pay, investment in key infrastructure and economic development and further reduction in municipal operating expenditures.

The City finalized a $309.3-million budget resulting in Windsor taxpayers seeing a 2.5 per cent tax hike.

Click Here for full text of the Chamber's presentation.

CHAMBER CALLS FOR MUNICIPAL TAX REDUCTIONS FOR BUSINESSES 

On Monday, April 23, 2007, Tim Fuerth, Treasurer, Windsor & District Chamber of Commerce addressed City of Windsor Council speaking on behalf of the business taxpayers. The Chamber recommendations called for a reduction in tax rates for the highly taxed industrial and commercial class categories. 

The current tax rate for the industrial class category is 7.92% compared to 3.63% in Oakville and 2.89% in Mississauga. The Council made a decision to lower the multi-residential class with a spillover effect on other business classes. Click Here for the full text of the Chamber's presentation.