After being part of the team that successfully rolled back the increases to off-street parking rates, Coun. Frank Everitt wants to take a second look at another core review decision.
Everitt is submitting a notice of motion to his city council colleagues tonight asking for staff to come up with ideas to replace last year's decision to establish new business licence fees for residential rental properties.
The $155 fee came into effect on Jan. 1 and covers previously unlicenced residential building rentals, defined in the bylaw as "any building or portion of any building with one ore more dwelling unites rented for residential purposes," including secondary suites and duplexes.
Council approved the idea as part of the marathon core services review implementation plan meeting on July 8, 2013, with the final bylaw passed Oct. 7. The fee is set to increase alongside other business licence fees at a rate of five per cent over three years to $171 by 2016.
There's a number of things regarding this fee to be concerned about, said Everitt, including a lack of fairness.
"People who have illegal suites won't comply and we don't have the ability to do a proper job of enforcement," he said. "If we're a mind to make these things, we need to have enforcement around it."
The parameters of the fee aren't clearly defined, he said. "Does it mean you pay for one complex? Does it mean you pay for each suite that you have in the building?"
Everitt said he's hoping for a discussion with the other members around the council table at a future meeting that will lead to administration reviewing the bylaws and coming back with options for consideration, including repealing the sections of the associated bylaws that relate to this residential rental issue.
Part of the problem stems from the volume of decisions council made during that marathon July meeting, Everitt said.
"There was just too much stuff pushed through on that date and this is what happens when we push stuff through too quickly without the due diligence around it," he said.
If the fee is successfully changed, it will be the second core review decision to be changed after legislation was already approved.
Tonight, council is set to approve final reading on an amendment to the fees and charges bylaw rolling back the increase to off-street parking rates to 25 per cent across the board. Substantial increases received final approval in September, but after a public outcry, councillors Lyn Hall and Murry Krause and Everitt came forward with a plan to phase them in.
In terms of how these changes reflect on council's decisions, Everitt said it's about doing what's right.
"People bring you issues where they think that council's made the wrong decision. And you can simply as a council say 'no, we're not going to change our mind' and plow ahead or you can say "yes, you do have a legitimate point and we want to review it,'" he said. "And I think you're far better off accepting those things that are incorrect than you are just maintaining position for the sake of maintaining it."
