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Property tax payments can be deferred in Jasper this summer.
But exactly how much those payments will be is yet to be decided.
Council voted this week that Jasperites can defer property tax payments until at least September with no penalties.
And no penalties will be applied to any utilities service account between now and September 1, 2020.
鈥淏y then we should have some sense of how our tax payments are going and what kind of payment plan we could put in place,鈥� said councillor Paul Butler.
In March, the municipal council was set to approve a budget for 2020 with a 5.3 per cent tax increase before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
But now council wants that increase to go down to zero per cent, or decrease property taxes for this year - but that comes with some consequences.
It could mean less funding for outside bodies like the museum and Habitat for the Arts, major layoffs for municipal staff, and reduced services in town.
Mark Fercho, chief administrative officer for Jasper, said: 鈥淵ou can set it, but the amount for every department will be a bit of a moving target because we are losing revenues with no events or people using our facilities.
鈥淲e will continue to work in a reduced way until we see what each department鈥檚 budget is.鈥�
Fercho said there could be a 25 per cent reduction in staff and council may have to look at the complete removal of one service or another.
He said road sweeping costs about $10,000 per year - but if we didn鈥檛 do it, the town would be dustier and dirtier.
鈥淪ome departments will feel much more of the brunt than others,鈥� said Fercho.
Cost saving measures already in place include a pay freeze for council and management, cancellation of the Hakone trip and all other non-essential travel, plus 2020 capital projects have been cancelled or delayed.聽
Council will make a decision on property tax rates at their next meeting, April 7.
