By Pepper Parr
September 21st, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
We now know a little bit more about how many homes are designated as Heritage properties and how much the city provides in the way of tax rebates.
A Burlington property designated as Heritage.
The City Communications department tells us that “On average, about 55 designated properties receive a heritage rebate annually. Currently there are 53 homes receiving the rebate.
The heritage rebate program is available to eligible residential and commercial designated heritage properties.
The program budget is $60,000 and comes out of the Corporate Expenditures.
That $60 thousand is not money the city actually spends – it is money that the city doesn’t get from the property owner – it is treated as a rebate on the tax bill. Some Heritage property owners choose to pay their taxes in full and at the end of the fiscal year get a refund from the city.
Related news content:
Mayor’s house is a Heritage property
Just to clarify the rebate for 2023 and prior years was paid as a lump sum by way of an old style cheque sent through the mail. The recent change to the applicable by-law passed at the last Council meeting will pay the rebate into the property owner’s City tax account. So the rebate payable in respect of calendar year 2024 paid taxes will be paid into the owners City tax account to offset against the owner’s 2025 tax levy. There will be no option to still receive the rebate by way of a cheque or by an EFT. The change we are told is in the interest of improving efficiency. We’ll see if staff can find a way to themselves be more efficient and so reduce the 5 month administration/processing period. Advice – Don’t bet your heritage home on it.
Compared to the absurd costs for things like excessive changes to Civic Square beyond safety and accessibility issues, $60K to help heritage property owners keep their properties safe and up to snuff as Burlington heritage examples is chump change. It is one item in the budget that I can support. There are many others I cannot.