Vacant home tax gets thumbs down from Burlington, Milton, Halton Hills

Any thoughts Halton Region had about implementing a vacant home tax in Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills are likely already over.

A report that will be presented at next week’s regional council meeting will show that three of Halton’s four municipalities have already opted out the plan.

Although the power to implement a vacant home tax rests with the region, the provincial policy allowed municipalities that are part of a two-tier structure to opt out.

And Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills have already said, “No thanks.”

Oakville council has not yet officially weighed in on the topic.

“To proceed with implementation of a vacant homes tax for any municipalities that are participating, a regional bylaw would need to be approved which would provide the authority to impose the vacant home tax, specify in which lower tiers the VHT applies, and set out the tax rate and vacancy definition,” reads the report.

The issue was studied by Ernst & Young which concluded, “Without the participation of all four local municipalities, there are financial and operational limitations of a Halton-implemented program which makes it not feasible from an administration or cost perspective.”

The report goes on to say a program run by the region with only Oakville participating would cost more than the tax could add in revenue.

If Oakville decided to proceed with the tax, all revenues, implementation and ongoing costs associated with the program would be managed by them, including the allocation and utilization of any net revenues.