The City of Victoria is reducing parking fees and eliminating the property tax increase for 2020, among measures taken to help reduce financial strains on individuals and businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
After deliberation at their Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday, Victoria council is moving forward with reducing parking fees at parkades and on-street metered parking sites effective Friday, April 10th.
Starting tomorrow, the maximum daily rate at a parkade will be $5 and the maximum cost per hour at on-street metres will be $1 per hour, everywhere in the city.
Time limits will no longer be enforced with the exception of 30-minute zones, and monthly rates at parkades will be reduced to $85.
Property taxes and construction
Council has also voted to eliminate the property tax increase scheduled to take place this year.
The due date for property taxes has been extended to August 4th, which Mayor Helps says is as far as they could push it “for a number of reasons”.
The city has also approved a “graduated late property tax penalty”, which peans penalties for late payment can now be made over a longer period of time.
Originally, penalties for late payment was 5 per cent on July 1st and 5 per cent on August 1st. This graduated penalty system ensures that those who have to pay their property taxes late can pay off a penalty of 2 per cent per month from August til December.
Utility bill payments can also now be made over a period of 90 days rather than the usual 45 days.
Mayor Helps says the city of Victoria will be moving forward with $80 million worth of capital projects at this time, while $21.8 million worth of projects have been deferred until the pandemic is over.
The projects moving forward relate to preserving existing community infrastructure, are safety related, or are already in progress, said Helps at her daily briefing on Thursday.
In particular, city staff will be accelerating some of the construction work slated for the downtown core in order to take advantage of lowered traffic during this time.
Appeal to provincial government
During her daily update on Thursday, Mayor Helps also issued an appeal for further relief measures that fall under the jurisdiction of the provincial government.
Helps calls on the province to reinstate a previously existing property tax deferment program for those who are facing financial hardship during this crisis, and to extend that program to commercial property owners.
Council is also advocating to the province to amend the homeowner grant to increase grant amounts, and also create a new grant category for people whose income has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City of Victoria is expected to revisit their budget in July 2020 and make changes based on the economic situation at that time.
See all the latest updates about the global COVID-19 pandemic on Vancouver Island
The BCCDC has set up a 2019 novel coronavirus telephone information line at 1-833-784-4397 for those who have further questions about this disease.
Anyone concerned that they may have been exposed to, or are experiencing symptoms of the novel coronavirus, should contact their primary care provider, local public health office, or call 8-1-1.
The Province has also created the 1-888-COVID-19 line to connect British Columbians needing non-medical information about the coronavirus pandemic.
As of the time of publication, the total number of COVID-19 patients worldwide has risen to 1,603,042.
Over 95,600 people have died from the illness and 356,421 have made a full recovery.
