County moving forward with accommodation tax

Alan Duthie, Ward 5 Councillor

Luke Edwards

Grant Haven Media

Norfolk councillors’ on again, off again relationship with a possible municipal accommodation tax (MAT) is once again on, subject to public consultation.

At the March 10 meeting council voted in support of staff recommendations to approve the fee in principle, and approve a draft short term rental bylaw. Both decisions will be used as a basis for further discussions with the public and stakeholders before a final policy is proposed for council approval.

The MAT is a proposed fee, likely four per cent, for visitors staying in overnight accommodations in Norfolk. Money generated would be used for tourism marketing as well as tourism infrastructure, which director of economic development John Regan said could really be just about anything. It’s seen as a potential to lessen the burden on municipal taxpayers.

An STR bylaw is seen as a required step in the development of a MAT, as it would regulate accommodations like Airbnb units. Coun. Chris Van Paassen, who has been attempting to apply the brakes on the process in an effort to ensure they follow what is in his mind a logical series of steps, said he preferred to have the two recommendations separated, and proposed approving the draft STR bylaw in principle and moving ahead with consultation on it, but leaving the MAT decision for later.

“That (the STR bylaw) is the next step, I think,” he said.

His attempt to have any reference to the MAT removed in the recommendation failed, however. Eventually councillors voted in support of the original staff recommendation.

“I think we need to work on both of these pieces simultaneously. To do otherwise is not only inefficient but quite frankly, I think, worse, it might be disingenuous," said Coun. Alan Duthie.

While councillors fretted a bit about getting enough public consultation, staff cautioned that they’ll never make everyone happy.

“No matter how much consultation we do, no matter what, there’s going to be someone knocking on our door saying ‘I was not consulted,’” said John Regan, director of economic development.