Businesses in Blind River that offer short term overnight accommodation want council to put off the implementation of a planned four percent Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) until there is greater consultation with business owners and the community at large.
Tyler MacIver co-owner of MacIver’s Motel and Camp met with council at its meeting Monday evening to express concerns by a group known as Blind River Accommodation about the way council initially approved the MAT in November without rigorous consultation in the community. The group sent a letter to the town in early December stating its concerns with the accommodation tax which would be levied and paid for by those renting rooms to cover costs by the town to provide infrastructure services.
MacIver said the business owners learned of the plan only through a story in ElliotLakeToday and felt more consultation was needed before the decision to bring the tax in.
The MAT was originally set to kick in on January 1, but the business group, which operates motels and bed and breakfasts, was given a three-month delay.
MacIver called for council to defer bringing in the tax in 2024 and until full consultation is done.
He said he found in smaller communities and cities – including Owen Sound, Burlington, and Collingwood – where individual councils considered implementing a similar tax, widespread consultation was done through extensive questionnaires sent to residents and businesses. That could be done on the town website which would allow council to consider all concerns raised about the tax before making a final decision on whether it should proceed.
“We feel our voices have gone unheard,” he told council at its meeting. “Unfortunately, we feel our collective voices have gone unheard once again. Clearly, our point was missed altogether,” the group said in a letter to the town. “We the local accommodation providers are requesting an immediate halt to the implementation of the MAT until proper consultation and discussion has taken place with those who are impacted."
Councillor Jennifer Posteraro asked MacIver how many of those communities that had considered the tax ended up bringing it in and was told all had approved it.
“All of them proceeded with the MAT tax because it’s beneficial to the community, so I’m hoping you as a very important member of our community can see the reciprocal benefit of that,” she said. “So, if stakeholders had said no, it could have been council’s decision to proceed with the MAT tax because of the benefit to its actual taxpayers. I see the MAT tax as an opportunity for the transient people in our community to actually pay for some of the services they use.”
She said the four percent tax would not impact business owners but would be paid directly by the short-term renters and would be used for paying for services such as local trail maintenance.
MacIver would not admit he was opposed to the tax, but rather it being brought in by council without consultation.
Council did not make a decision on what it will do with bringing in the tax at this point.