Municipal Services

To provide for the annual operational costs of the municipality, the Village of Port Clements issues tax notices and collects property taxes. In addition, it is legislatively required to collect property taxes on behalf of other taxing authorities such as the North Coast Regional District.

After the Village has determined its budget for the year and has received the information on how much it is required to collect on behalf of other authorities, the Village must adopt a Tax Rates Bylaw, which usually occurs at the beginning of May. It then issues the annual property tax notice, typically mid or late May. The taxes are then due on the first business day of July, but the specific date changes year to year and is identified on the tax notice itself. Property owners are responsible for payment of property taxes regardless of whether a notice is received or not. If you have not received your notice, please contact the Village Office.

Property owners are required to pay off their property taxes in full to the Village Office by this deadline; any outstanding balances left on the tax account after it has passed receives a 10% penalty.

Property taxes must be paid, or the property owner will potentially lose their property via tax sale in order to recover the unpaid taxes for the municipality. This process is trigged when a property owner has failed to make payment or full payment of their property taxes for three consecutive years.

In the first year, known as the “current year” (as it is the tax applied onto the account in the current calendar year), if the property owner has not paid the property taxes by the due date in July, then the outstanding balance receives a 10% penalty but otherwise does not accrue further interest until the start of the next calendar year. At the start of the next calendar year the balance moves from being the current tax on the account to being an arrears tax on the account. The arrears tax then receives and accrues daily interest on it as a penalty. If it continues to remain outstanding, at the start of the following calendar year the arrears balance moves from being the arrears tax on the account to being a delinquent tax on account. The delinquent tax then receives and accrues daily interest on it as a penalty. Delinquent tax on the account also makes the property eligible for the tax sale that may occur that year.

When a property has a delinquent tax amount, the Village may send out courtesy notice(s) early in the year to bring it to the property owners attention, though the municipality is not required to do so. After the tax payment due date in July, if there are delinquent taxes on account it triggers the requirement for the municipality to prepare for a potential tax sale in September and send out the official notice to property owners with eligible property. While the specific dates and timeline change year to year, this usually occurs in August though it also may occur in early September.

The tax sale itself is where the municipality publicly auctions off any properties with delinquent taxes owing. It is normally held each year on the last Monday of September (or as otherwise set by the Province). The tax sale is advertised and is open to all members of the public to attend and participate in the bidding process. If there are no other bidders, the municipality receives the property through tax sale by default. Until the time of tax sale, a property owner can avoid their property going to tax sale by at least paying off the delinquent taxes.

After the tax sale starts, the property owner (or registered charge holders) still has one (1) year to redeem their property from tax sale. While the property has been auctioned it does not immediately result in a transfer of ownership, it only results in a tax sale lien being registered on the property’s title. Transfer of ownership to the successful (or default) bidder only occurs after this one (1) year redemption period has passed.

However, after the tax sale has started, redemption of the property no longer can occur by just paying off the outstanding delinquent tax balance. To redeem a property that has gone through the tax sale, the property owner must pay off all the tax balance owing on the account (current, arrears and delinquent) as well as the applicable additional fees incurred by the Village for having to undertake the tax sale process.

If the property is redeemed by its owner, the bidder will be refunded all the monies they bid, plus interest accrued to the date of redemption. If the property is not redeemed by its property owner within the one (1) year period, then the property is transferred to the bidder as the new owner of the property. The amount they bid on the property is used to pay off the outstanding balances and pay the applicable fees from the tax sale process, if there is any surplus after this is accounted for, then the previous owner is entitled to it and must claim it from the municipality within nine (9) months.

The Village issues quarterly utility billings for water, sewer and garbage collection services to properties within the community that receive these services. They are due the last business day in the third month of the quarter (being March, June, September, and December respectively). However, the specific due date will be on the utility bill itself.

Utility accounts are always current for the calendar year. If, at the end of the year and start of the next calendar year, there is an outstanding balance on the account, it is transferred onto the property’s tax account as arrears taxes.

To stop being issued a utility bill a property would need to disconnect from receiving the water, sewer and garbage collection services. Disconnecting from water or sewer involves having the water and sewer access at the curbstop turned off – this involves completing a utility work order request from the Village Office and has applicable fees. Garbage collection is a service provided by the North Coast Regional District and their rules are that if there is a building on the property that could produce garbage, the property will be charged for garbage collection fees unless the property has proof of private arrangements for garbage collection or there is no longer a habitable building on the property (it does not matter if a person is currently residing within the habitable building or not).