Jeff Burgar
High Prairie town council must be patted on the back. There are a couple of conditions to our congratulations, but all in all, council did the right thing.

Our congratulations are because of a council decision Feb. 14. They voted unanimously to refuse to roll back the tax penalty on a High Prairie business, Freson Bros.

For those who have not followed this story, it isn’t just about an appeal from one business. It’s about the whole idea of looking at tax appeals and in particular, the penalties for missing the deadline. Should the penalty be maintained, or waived?

In 2016, there was an appeal from a homeowner who missed the June 30 deadline for paying taxes. The penalty for being late is steep, about 12 per cent of the total bill. In this particular case it amounted to several hundred dollars. The homeowner explained her situation and why she missed the deadline. Some councillors felt that allowing the penalty to be rolled back would set a dangerous precedent. Other councillors argued these things should be decided case by case.

In this case, one councillor went so far as to say, and we paraphrase, “her appeal is handwritten. So it must be sincere.”

This argument is, and continues to be, astonishing. At the time it was talked about, town staff said allowing this appeal was very wrong.

There are just so many alternatives to getting the money into the town’s hands properly and efficiently, and on deadline, that are often acceptable. Payment by automatic instalment, registered mail, courier, hand delivery, certified cheque, etc.

As well, so many ways people try to wiggle around this, or make mistakes. Sending by regular mail a week before the deadline. The dog ate the homework!

And of course, showing “sincerity” by writing an appeal by hand. Which, in that particular case, worked charmingly. The appeal was allowed and penalty waived.

Since then, there have been more appeals. Each and every one was turned down, and rightly so.

It brings us to our first condition. Namely, what one sends around comes around. We have hopes that because of our stand on this issue, there will not come a day when we will be standing in the exact same line as those appealing, holding our handwritten apology, hoping against hope our penalty will be forgiven.

Our second condition has to do with those well-meaning, but muddled thinkers on council who have changed their minds about appeals. The handwritten story was acceptable to them. Yet the latest, from a local business often applauded for its charity and “good citizen” work, was turned down. An error in addressing was the culprit.

We are not arguing this appeal should be accepted. But we do think, the councillors who voted to accept the handwritten appeal have seen the light. Perhaps they would apologize to the rest of council, and the taxpayers for making a mistake. These things do happen, we all know.

Even better, pony up the money the taxpayers lost. Not a big hardship for the councillors. They can split it and take it out of their honoraria.
Now, that would be sincere!