Vacant Unit Tax (VUT)

I have voted opposed (and continue to be opposed) to the City of Hamilton's Vacant Unit Tax (VUT). In my humble opinion, this has been a misguided mistake. First of all, it is as I’ve dubbed it many times – a form of “negative billing”. In other words, the onus is on my constituents who own property to submit a VUT declaration (either on-line or via paper) noting that they still occupy their respective properties. For those that do not submit their VUT declarations, the City of Hamilton will charge them a fee equivalent to 1% of the assessed value of their property as per the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MCAP) assessment, over and above the property tax they pay! For instance, if MPAC assesses a property to be worth $500,000, the 1% charge that will appear on a property tax bill would be $5,000! Secondly, the City of Hamilton has created a new division within the Finance Department to oversee and administer the new VUT with a total of 16 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions. This amounts to a start-up cost of $2.6 million, followed by an ongoing cost of $2.2 million! All of this unnecessary expense, in my opinion, to supposedly force approximately 1,100 property owners that have vacant units (for whatever reason) to make them habitable as soon as possible. And for this, the City of Hamilton created a new division and interrupted the lives of approximately 177,000 households that are mandated to complete their VUT declarations or else!