Comment 31035

By UrbanRenaissance (registered) | Posted May 13, 2009 at 11:54:12

Perhaps a property tax rebate for renovations?

If the purpose of the tax credit is to get old run-down homes fixed up, how do you make sure it is only applied in the areas that need it?

Not a bad idea, the problem would be in quantifying when a building is considered run down and when its considered acceptable. Would it be based on comparing home prices before and after the reno (taking into account surrounding home prices and conditions), or would it look at the type of reno done (i.e. upgrading structure or cladding as opposed to the above mentioned addition).

Incidentally, there's already a program like this in effect called the "Enterprise Zone Municipal Realty Tax Incentive Grant Program". However it only applies to properties with a less than 50% occupancy rate. (so for the case of residential homes it would only count if the house was vacant or it was demolished and rebuilt) Basically this program gives the qualifying developer a yearly grant equal to a percentage of the increase in property tax due to the renovation and/or construction. (100% the 1st year, 80% the 2nd year, 60% the 3rd year, 40% for the 4th year and 20% for year 5).

The program applies for land within the area denoted here http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/01...

And the details of the program can be found here http://www.myhamilton.ca/myhamilton/City...

If someone could come up with a good set of criteria for non-vacant residential homes maybe the city could expand the grant criteria to include them?

Raising the Hammer and user name character limits since '09

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds