The Vacant Unit Rebate Program was established by the Harris government in 2001. It required municipalities to allow owners of vacant commercial or industrial properties to apply for a partial refund (rebate) on their property taxes when space was unused for at least 90 consecutive days. It offered a temporary reduction in property tax of 30% for commercial and 35% for industrial for as long as the property remained unoccupied.
Between 2014 and 2017, Belleville was required by the provincial government to subsidize owners of vacant commercial/industrial properties with $1M in property tax rebates. 354 applications had been received through the rebate program between 2014 and 2017. About 109 applications were filed in 2016.
I don’t want to say we have a chronic problem, but we certainly have an ongoing issue with vacancies in commercial businesses
The way things get done has to change,
I think it is all or nothing, and basically take the rebate program away.
Councillor Carr
In the 2017 Provincial Budget, the Wynne government announced it would give municipalities the option to adjust the program to their need, including ending it entirely. Many municipalities closed the program within a year.
Belleville ran the rebate program for 5 more years until 2022, providing subsidies for landlords of empty buildings with $2 million after being given the option to opt out of the program.
In 2022, there was $35 million worth of vacant and excess commercial property and $9 million worth of vacant and excess industrial property in Belleville paying a $730,000 and $218,000 worth of property taxes, respectively.
Here are the estimated annual rebates for the Belleville Urban tax area:
- 2017 – $300,000
- 2018 – $400,000
- 2019 – $450,000
- 2020 – $500,000
- 2021 – $350,000
- 2022 – $500,000
Numbers sourced from the annual Bylaw to Adopt Estimates and Sums.
The actual total is likely 10-15% higher since the Belleville Urban rate area consists of roughly 85-90% of the total commercial and industrial property value in the municipality.
Removing the discounts for vacant and excess properties does not reduce the overall property tax collected by the City, but means that the vacant commercial and industrial properties will be paying roughly $430,000 more, while other property classes including residential will pay less.
The program acted as a disincentive for property owners to re-develop/improve their property or lower their rates to find tenants.
