Force The Feds To Pay Their PILTS: TOP 10 LIST
Nothing screams comedy like PILTs.
Well, maybe not. But undaunted, we gerbils here at Bulldog World Headquarters will take on this daunting task.
PILTS, or as they are more colloquially known payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (there’s comedy right there), are money sent to the municipal government by the federally government instead of paying property taxes (are you rolling in the aisles now?). The city maintains it is being short-changed.
But in a precedent-setting and highly complicated ruling, the Federal Court said; “Nah … don’t think so.”
So the city has resorted to the term “we’re taking next steps” without having a remote idea what those next steps are.
But here’s where The Bulldog steps in (as a public service … always) to help our taxed municipal government. We’re providing those next steps.
As ever, we do this by way of a Top 10 list:
Top 10 Ways The City Can Force The Federal Government To Pay Its PILTS:
10. Cut off the water;
9. Threaten to have Allan Hubley run federally;
8. Turn convention centre into Trump hotel;
7. Condemn 24 Sussex;
6. Enforce idling bylaw in Senate;
5. Declare war on NCC;
4. Kidnap press gallery … force them to cover city council;
3. Upload Lansdowne on feds;
2. Replace Rideau Hall with sprung structure;
1. “Hello, I’m Jim Watson.”
Ken Gray
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It’s “grants in lieu of taxes” – and that’s done because municipalities cannot tax federal properties. So a GILT provides an equivalent payment; and as far as I know the payments are near identical to what the taxes would be. There have been – and are – instances where a municipality has been able to get the GILT increased by the presentation of evidence warranting a change. But that evidence must be fact based – not an emotional plea for more federal money. Or because the municipality is badly managed and needs a back door supply of revenue.
Sutcliffe’s PILT campaign (doomed from the start) served as a distraction from the large budget problems City Council is facing. It creates a false scapegoat to blame the inevitable tax increase that is bound to result.
GILT, a term that refers to something that bears a thin layer of gold. Something that looks better than it is. How fitting.
As Alex so clearly puts it, the PILT campaign was doomed to failure from the start. The campaign that every councillor pinkie swore to support, rather than do what was necessary. A campaign, the failure of which was inevitable, that every councillor willfully participated in. That speaks volumes to the courage of those who were elected to govern us.
On David’s point that the PILTs are supposed to be roughly equivalent to what the property taxes would be for the various land holdings of the federal and provincial governments, has Sutcliffe ever published what the taxes would be for those properties if they were calculated in the same way as other city property taxes are?
Those numbers should be made public along with the actual amounts we have been receiving. This would allow the other taxpayers in the city to know if there’s any truth in Sutcliffe’s claims. We will be entitled to draw our own conclusions if Sutcliffe doesn’t provide the figures.
May I remind the mayor that when a major land-holder in the city isn’t pulling their weight, all other residents and businesses end up contributing more in order that the City can continue to function and the lights will stay on. Thus we have a vested personal interest in knowing who’s not paying their share and by how much.
Hopefully, the mayor doesn’t need to be reminded that there’s a municipal election coming in the not-too-distant future and the (small-v) voters are watching.
Re: The List.
#10. Much more effective than cutting their water off would be blocking off the sewer laterals which are the pipes from a property to the main sewer line. This means we need them to have water in the building and would result in the sewage backing up into the building.
This could be applied randomly to different properties each day with no pre-notice. More interesting would be going between no water, no sewage removal, supplying neither and supplying both, again on a random schedule.
(Perhaps we could consider the same for the US Embassy and the Ambassador’s Residence should it be deemed appropriate.)
#11. Refuse all building permit applications from the federal or provincial governments as well as any for Crown corporations or agencies unless they are for housing. Cancel all existing permits for the same.
#12. How are Senators and their staff travelling between their offices and the temporary Senate Building in the old train station? Are they using the buses from Parliament Hill which, because they weren’t travelling on City streets, never used to have provincial plates? Let’s verify if those vehicles are properly plated and slap them all with Provincial Offences tickets if not.
#13. Last year, the St. Patrick’s Parade or the Pride Parade was cancelled partly because there weren’t enough police to provide security along the route. When the PM is travelling by motorcade anywhere in the city, he won’t need as extensive a police escort if Ottawa cops aren’t closing off every cross-street and he just stops for the lights like the rest of us. The same could apply to any other requests for motorcade assistance. Then we might have enough of the police protection we are paying for as local taxpayers to provide security for community events.