Traditionally, municipalities have only had a few options when it comes to property taxes in arrears. Now, Wishart Municipal Group is offering a new Tax Arrears program to help municipalities collect what they are owed.
Problem with tax sales
▪ Not appropriate for all properties
▪ Bill 68 allows tax sale after two years in arrears
▪ Last resort now that Bill 68 has passed – Excess funds get paid to the Province, NOT to the Municipality
Will become a last resort once Bill 68 fully comes into force
A better way forward with the WMG strategy
▪ Custom Strategy to meet your needs
▪ Working with tax payers to produce positive solutions
▪ Options for a variety of enforcement tools
The proven results
▪ 2 Municipalities, recovered $420,000 in arrears over 3 years old
▪ Over 70% of arrears collected or under contract within 60 days
A win-win for MUNICIPALITies and RATEPAYERS
▪ Treasurer “hands off” enforcement saving municipality staff time
▪ Treasurer not doing enforcement
▪ Treasurer doing other work
▪ Fees passed onto taxpayer
▪ More effective than Collection Agency
▪ Collection Agencies frequently enforce high value properties and little effort on low value properties
▪ Using Tax Sale as last resort, results in less expense and faster enforcement in most cases
▪ Substantially cheaper than collection agencies, which typically charge 30% on top of arrears
▪ Not starting with tax registration avoids breach of mortgage terms – allows a ratepayer to borrow to pay arrears
▪ Respectful enforcement recognizes that there are often reasons why a taxpayer is in arrears
▪ WMG’s positive approach is praised by taxpayers and yields substantial results
Award winning SOFTWARE
▪ Unique proprietary tax arrears enforcement software for use at no additional cost
▪ Winner of the “Innovation Project of the Year” SSMARt Innovation Award 2017
Get in touch
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