The Vacant Unit Tax and its communication plan were approved by the previous Council. City finance staff decided it was best to send this early notice without any way to make the declaration in place, and instead opted to make it available online or in person at City Hall, or by telephone, sometime in January 2023.
I let the City Manager know that I think this is a bad practice.
The declaration is now available as out lined below by the Deputy City Treasurer. Should you encounter difficulties with making your declaration please let me know so I can follow up with the Deputy City Treasurer on your behalf.
“ The mandatory declaration is primarily completed online directly in the on-line portal, through the Vacant Unit Tax home page on Ottawa.ca, or MyService Ottawa. It should take no longer than five minutes to complete.
Several options are also available to help residential property owners requiring assistance in completing the declaration, including seniors and persons with disabilities:
“…the declaration period opened on January 4, 2023 for property owners to declare the 2022 occupancy status of their residential properties, and the on-line portal to support the declaration went live at the same time. As of noon today, we have received more than 44,000 completed declarations. The technical issues that were identified on January 4th have largely been resolved now. Although there has been an unprecedented surge in volume to the call centre, we are adjusting our staffing levels accordingly and providing updated automated messaging for callers who are waiting;
A second notice will be sent to residential property owners next week – which will include their roll number, access code and more information on how to declare. In order to meet the January 9, 2023 mailout date, these letters were generated prior to the end of the year, so those who have already declared will be included in the mailout. Property owners who have already completed the declaration can disregard the second notice. Residents registered with MyServiceOttawa can go directly to the declaration from their property tax account.
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