The City of North Bay has introduced a property tax hardship program to assist residents who may be impacted as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
The program, which is being administered by Low Income People Involvement of Nipissing (LIPI), is accepting applications as of April 15, 2021. The program will provide payment assistance to eligible residential property owners whose primary residence is in tax arrears due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. To apply, please visit: https://lipinipissing.com/programs/property-tax-hardship-program.
The program will require qualified applicants to meet the following criteria:
- Available to North Bay residents only
- Must be for primary residence (owner listed on title)
- Aid to be provided for 2020 final and 2021 interim property tax arrears due to impact of COVID-19
- Applications with property tax arrears prior to February 1, 2020 are not eligible for the program
- Resident must demonstrate ability to maintain property taxes under normal circumstances
- Resident must demonstrate significant impact to household income resulting from Covid-19 pandemic:
Impact defined as:
- Experienced, at minimum, a decrease of 50% of total household income during either of the lockdown periods outlined below in comparison to 2019 income levels during the same timeframe
Lockdown Periods defined as:
- Period 1 – March 23, 2020 to June 12, 2020
- Period 2 – December 26, 2020 to March 7, 2021
- Program will match taxpayer payments made to property tax account
- Maximum contribution of 50% of tax arrears determined at time of application
- LIPI will make payments directly to City on behalf of taxpayer
