Vacant Unit Rebate no longer allowed in towns

MUSKOKA — Owners of vacant units will no longer be able to apply for a tax rebate reduction.

In response to a District of Muskoka request the province has authorized elimination of the Vacant Unit Rebate for the lower-tier municipalities in the District Municipality of Muskoka effective January 1, 2018.

The Vacant Unit Rebate is an application-based program that provides a tax rebate to property owners who have vacancies in commercial and industrial buildings.

In Muskoka, the program provided a 30 per cent reduction to property taxes levied if the unit met the eligibility criteria.

Owners had to apply for the rebate.

In late 2017, the lower-tier municipalities in Muskoka completed various forms of consultation with the business community, including direct mailings and public meetings, to understand the impact of eliminating the vacant unit rebate program, say releases from Huntsville and Bracebridge.

They say feedback from the business community and analysis from municipal staff determined that the vacant unit rebate program benefitted relatively few property owners for a proportionately large cost and did not encourage steadfast occupancy of commercial and industrial buildings.

The rebates were effectively funded by the rest of the property tax base, the towns say.

Upon receiving a formal request of District of Muskoka council to eliminate the vacant unit rebate, the Ministry of Finance amended O. Reg. 325/01: Tax Matters – Vacant Unit Rebate to exempt lower-tier municipalities in the District of Muskoka from the requirement to provide tax rebates for property with vacant portions for 2018 and subsequent taxation years.