In what Mayor Shari Green called a "regressive and reactionary move," city council went ahead with the repeal of the controversial business licence fee for residential rental properties.
Following an hour of heated discussion Monday night, councillors Frank Everitt, Garth Frizzell, Lyn Hall, Murry Krause and Brian Skakun successfully passed the first two readings of the bylaw that would take back the $155 fee for rental properties with three or fewer units.
The vote was postponed from the May 12 meeting where council decided to wait until they could see some alternatives from staff on different ways to administer the business licence.
Among the options council had to consider would have seen the fee reduced for those with single-family buildings with two units or less to an annual fee of $25 per property, to a maximum of $155.
That was an idea supported by Green and councillors Cameron Stolz, Dave Wilbur and Albert Koehler.
Those in favour of keeping the fee argued it was a necessary tool to help provide safe places to live by having a mechanism through which a landlord could lose the ability to operate a rental business for a substandard property.
The expected revenue of $29,000 from the altered fee structure is "a small price to pay for the greater good of our community," said Stolz.
"The first draft got the mechanism right," said Wilbur, agreeing that the original charge of $155 per unit was too high. "If we dump the whole thing because of a little lack of courage in the sense of seeing the light, I'm afraid we're going to look awfully silly."
But Krause, who chairs the city's affordable housing committee said it wasn't going to actually achieve those goals and the tenants with housing problems will continue to fly under the radar.
As confirmed by planning director Ian Wells, the city wouldn't be going in and inspecting every property before issuing a business licence. The city also doesn't issue business licences to illegal suites, which means having the ability to inspect and enter a property and keep a landlord from renting it out isn't going to work on them.
"Why would a landlord who rents to a gang member be worried about a bloody business licence," asked Skakun.
Like all bylaws, complaints about a landlord and a licenced property are complaint driven, noted Hall.
"I can't support what I think is unenforceable," he said.
Third reading of the changes to the business regulation and licencing bylaw will come before council on June 23. Refund cheques worth more than $180,000 for the the 1,187 property owners who paid for a licence will be handed out once the bylaw receives fourth and final reading.
The amendment will also change the definition of residential building rentals to those with three or more units, thereby excluding secondary suites or duplexes.
