5. Owen Sound gives owners of retail/business properties a 30% tax rebate for those portions of buildings that are unoccupied, which has been called an incentive to keep them empty. Will you vote to end this giveaway?

MAYOR

Ray Botten

I will not vote to end this giveaway. However, I will ask council to look very closely at why a number of properties have been bought and Not willing to "open" for business. There could be a "foreign" component regionally that others are not aware.

Ian Boddy
The vacant land rebate policies are currently being looked at. There are pros and cons to the policy. I will decide in the best interest of our community after reviewing all of the information when available.

DEPUTY MAYOR

Paul Patille
Absolutely not! This is a recipe for a ghost town.

Brian O'Leary

I certainly do not look at this as an incentive to keep them empty, simply because owners of these buildings would make more money if they were occupied. That said, I would support eliminating the rebate because it's too much of a loss to our tax base. This rebate is not limited to retail/business as it includes all industrial and commercial buildings as well.

COUNCILLORS

Brock Hamley
We want our city to have a thriving economy that supports local entrepreneurs and helps grow not only our workforce, but the capacity for better social and community services delivery as well; which means we need to start working to encourage landlords to fill vacant storefronts and buildings, especially in our downtown and waterfront areas. I support ending the rebate.

Steven Hencze
YES

Richard Thomas
Council has already given staff direction to move forward on a proposal to end the rebate. I am in favour of ending the 30% rebate.

Bill Twaddle
In a word, no. The rebate is not an "incentive" to keep property vacant. It is a recognition that the vacant part of a property is not generating income.

Before the mid 1990s there were two taxes on commercial properties, one on the property and buildings, and the second on the business located in that property. If the property was vacant there was no business to tax.

When the province changed that approach to a single combined tax on commercial property the vacancy rebate was created to recognize that there was no income-producing business in a vacant property.

Riel Warrilow
I would be interested to investigate the rebate a little more, for example if we could marry vacant space, with aregistered charity who is in need of a location. Otherwise I don't see the benefit of keeping such a rebate in place.

Jacquie Furtner
This is a difficult issue to consider. While I don't think it is a necessary rebate, now that it is in place, I fear that removing it may lead to higher rent for tenants. If there is a way to protect the tenants from this in the short and long term, I would be in favour of ending the giveaway.

Denae Moores
As a stand-alone issue, I would vote to end this giveaway. But in the context of the previous question, I'm not certain our downtown is less vibrant because of this tax rebate. Is there a balance? A point where there is an equal amount of incentive to rent the space, without an owner having to sell? I do not want to detract individuals from owning retail/business space in our downtown core. I do not want to see so many vacant spaces. A 30% tax rebate is too much, however.

John Tamming
I question the premise. I doubt a business person would forgo actual revenue from a paying tenant in order to claim a 30% reduction on her property taxes. That makes little sense. Most people like gains, not losses, regardless of the size of the discount being offered on their losses. I also note that compared to residential property tax rates, our commercial rates are already the highest in the county. Given that, it seems churlish not to at least offer a vacancy discount to commercial owners.

If I am wrong and if these discounts do in fact incentivize blight, by all means toss them. But you will have to make your case.

Marion Koepke
I am fully in favour of eliminating the vacancy rebate. I feel that by allowing the rebate, downtown property owners are not working hard enough to fill their empty buildings. I have seen other municipalities that have incentive programs to fill empty downtown storefronts and we need to look at some of their ideas.

Gail McCartney
This tax rebate has been in existence for a very long time. I certainly believe it it time to look at this and receive input from all sides. I don't see it as an incentive to keep them empty but I am sure it drives up rental prices to cover the increase.

Travis Dodd
Current Council has requested for a report with this proposal and at that time I will be able to make a properly informed decision. However we need to do something to help reduce the number of vacant storefronts within our downtown and if removing the 30% tax rebate helps get this going then I would be in favour.

Carol Merton
City Council has already requested staff to report back to them on this matter with recommendations. I support this direction and look forward to the results from City staff. I also believe that if the policy no longer meets the goal, a new approach should be tried.