Bay Roberts to crack down on outstanding taxes

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Bay Roberts councillor Perry Bowering is encouraging the Town to get more aggressive about collecting outstanding taxes.

Bowering raised the matter during council’s May 20th public meeting and asked Chief Administrative Officer Dave Tibbo for his thoughts on the matter.

“I’ve got very big concerns about people’s abilities or unwillingness to pay their taxes,” said Tibbo. “Again, you give everyone the benefit of the doubt for paying their taxes this year, we all understand that, but one of the concerns I’ve got, and one of the concerns in the review of the recent audit we got from our auditors, is that there is a tax collection problem in the town.” 

Tibbo clarified that he wasn’t talking about 2025 taxes, but some accounts that have been outstanding since 2021.

“The Town needs to do a better job collecting the taxes,” Tibbo said. “Right now I will say that we are owed well over a million dollars in taxes. And I mean well over, probably close to two million in taxes.” 

Tibbo said that’s unfair to people in Bay Roberts who pay their taxes. 

“Once we reach out and we get our notice out in their third quarter, which will be the end of June, we will be aggressively pursuing all the people that owe taxes from 2024 back,” he added.

Tibbo noted that under the provincial Towns and Districts Services Acts, the Town can shut off water to properties with long overdue taxes. He acknowledged people may be displeased about that, but if water shutdowns are the only way they can get some people to pay their taxes, that is what the Town must do. The Town will give residents 30 days notice of any decision to shut the water.

Tibbo added that residents experiencing difficulty paying their taxes are welcome to contact the Town. “I’m sure you would all agree that if there’s people anywhere in the town of Bay Roberts that do have concerns with their taxes or who are going through any type of hardship, they have every right to come in and sit down with the CFO, or myself and the clerk, and have a conversation about payment plans,” said Tibbo.

Collection of the outstanding taxes would greatly benefit the town, Tibbo said. “I know every director here would love to have that extra revenue to certainly be able to do more things with, plus it’s money that we have budgeted,” he said. “And, you know, we can’t be going over budget. We’ve got lots of things to spend the money on, but if we don’t collect the taxes we can’t spend it.”

Mayor Geoff Seymour, who also chairs the finance committee, clarified the outstanding tax issue does not just pertain to residential taxes. There is also a significant amount of commercial and business taxes in arrears. Seymour expressed concern about inequity. 

“You’ve got the vast majority of people who pay their taxes on time and are diligent with it, and it’s definitely unfair to them that they’re paying their taxes, getting services, and then you’ve got a small portion of the population that is accumulating a tremendous amount of debt with no justification for it in most cases,” he said. 

Seymour acknowledged that all councils operate on the principle that some taxes will likely never be paid, but not to the extent seen in Bay Roberts, which has a significant effect on the financial condition of the Town.

“Every time a fire truck goes up the road, snow plow goes up the road, a section of road is paved because of bad potholes, a piece of playground equipment got to get fixed, that’s paid for by the taxes,” said councillor Dean Franey. 

When people ask council why they have not yet started or completed certain tasks or projects, said Franey, often it is because those things have to be paid for by taxes paid to the Town. “If taxes aren’t paid, we can’t do it.”

Councillor Bowering concluded the debate by stressing the need to take action.

“Let’s put our foot down and let’s get at it,” he said. 

Councillor Frank Deering agreed. “I’ve been on council now eight years and we talked about it from day one when I came here. And we said we’re going to start cutting water, we’re going to get taxes, and we never ever did it. But we’ve got to do it now.”