City PILT Fairness Campaign Is Unfair

Well now. Things are beginning to become clearer on the “fairness” campaign of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.

It’s pretty hard politically to condemn the federal government for disposing of its unneeded property … particularly when it plans to convert those buildings and the like to housing.

So rather than being specific about why payments in lieu of taxes the city receives are dropping because of a decreasing federal footprint in Ottawa, the federal government is just not paying its “fair share” of city funding.

No. Instead the federal government is being responsible with its resources. Hard to pay PILTs when it’s not your building anymore or property taxes are being covered by a new owner.

If Sutcliffe thinks things are bad now, wait until the MP for Boot Hill, Sask. decides he wants a federal department located on the Cereal Flats. Work-at-home means where the home is. The internet doesn’t care much for distance. Your workers could work from an extra room anywhere in Canada. Furthermore, the physical location of a department doesn’t matter what with virtual meetings and the like.

And don’t think that hasn’t crossed the federal government’s minds. Wonder how the land costs in Boot Hill compare to Ottawa’s?

There go more of the city’s PILTs.

In fact if memory serves, a city technical mandarin works from Montreal.

This from X:

@KenGray
This will really drop the Payment In Lieu of Taxes that the Feds pay the City of Ottawa…https://t.co/yJBwa700Eh

— cliff wardle (@winemaker1960) August 27, 2024