The cheques are in the mail for the the 1,187 property owners who applied for business licences for their residential rental units.
The city has to refund more than $183,000 after council gave fourth and final reading to a bylaw reverting the definition of residential building rentals to its former requirement of having three or more units. This exempts duplexes and secondary suites from the $155 charge that council initially voted to implement last year.
Coun. Frank Everitt spearheaded the change with a motion in April to repeal the charge that came into effect at the beginning of January.
As with the earlier votes on the matter, council was split 5-4, with Mayor Shari Green and councillors Cameron Stolz, Dave Wilbur and Albert Koehler opposing the change.
But despite no one wavering from their position that the bylaw was either a useful tool for ensuring residents had safe housing or a well-intentioned but ultimately misguided tax grab, council still had a lengthy discussion Monday night.
"Fourth reading is an opportunity for clarity of thought," said Wilbur, though he echoed the same arguments made for the fee. "It's not a tool that will fix everything, but it's a tool that will fix something."
"Imposing a business licence fee like this promises staff a tool that can shut down bad landlords, but I don't believe that promise," said Coun. Garth Frizzell. "Simply put, it's a tool that's unlikely ever to be used anymore than the current systems are."
It's not a matter of turning their backs on those who aren't in the most ideal of housing situations, said Coun. Murry Krause, but rather about "the lack of inspection prior to issuing licences. And unless there's going to be a huge increase in staff that are going to be in licensing I still think people with inappropriate housing will be getting a licence and renting it out to other people."
Koehler attempted to get the mayor to call the vote when it became clear everyone was sticking to their guns, but Green refused until every member of council had their say.
"The fact that we're spending time rehashing it tonight is perfectly allowed within the context of our rules," said Green. "It's probably annoying to some people - 'why are they still talking about this?' - the fact of the matter this is obviously something we each care passionately about one way or another."
The mayor referred to a 2011 decision to change the city's tax rates at fourth reading to avoid levying a minimum 25 per cent increase to light industry class property owners.
Requiring business licences for low-density rentals is a done deal, as far as Green is concerned.
Stolz suggested implementing the rule but making the fee $1, but Green said she wasn't in support of that idea and that the constant back and forth was taxing on city staff.
"So this is a tool that we have seen used in the past and most recently with the Homeland Inn and is a tool that we are taking away from our staff's ability to use," she said. "It doesn't matter what the price is."
