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Report To: General Government Committee
Date of Meeting: March 21, 2022 Report Number: LGS-009-22
Submitted By:
Reviewed By:
File Number:
Report Subject:
Rob Maciver, Director of Legislative Services
Mary-Anne Dempster, CAO Resolution#:
By-law Number:
Amendments to the Fee By-law – Finance and Clerk’s
Recommendations:
1.That Report LGS-009-22 and any related communication items, be received;
2.That the By-law attached to Report LGS-009-22, as Attachment 1 to Report LGS-
009-22, amending the Fee By-law 2010-142 to primarily reinstate service fees and to
waive the Commissioner of Oaths fees for name changes (as well as make some
housekeeping changes), be approved with an effective date of June 1, 2022; and
3.That all interested parties listed in Report LGS-009-22 and any delegations be
advised of Council’s decision.
Municipality of Clarington Page 2
Report LGS-009-22
Report Overview
This report has been prepared to present recommendations to reinstate service fees
charged by Financial Services that were previously removed and obtain Council’s approval
to amend By-law 2010-142, the Fee By-law; and to waive the Commissioner of Oaths fee for
change of name forms; as well as some other housekeeping changes to the Clerk’s Division
fees.
1. Background
Commissioner of Oaths – Change of Name Form
1.1 Through recent awareness programs, education, and webinars, Staff have become
aware that certain communities have an added burden when it comes to changing their
name. These communities include persons impacted by the Truth and Reconciliation
Committee’s calls to action; 2SLGBTQI and transgender people.
Reinstate Services Fees Charged by Financial Services
1.2 In 2018, several service fees were removed from the Fee By-law 2010-142. Fees for
processing ownership changes, arrears notices, and issuing statements were removed
from the Fee By-law. The estimated revenue loss at the time was $150,000/year.
1.3 A change of ownership service fee was first implemented in 2010 and is commonly
charged by Municipalities. A fee is added after a title change has been registered, and
the update is processed by municipal staff, including adding or removing names.
1.4 A statement of account shows the current status of a property tax account. A statement
is often requested when an owner sells the property or for mortgage or income tax
purposes. A statement is a duplication of information that is already provided on the
property tax bill.
1.5 Arrears notices for properties with three years of outstanding taxes or greater are
currently mailed twice a year. These properties are eligible for tax sale registration or
would become eligible on January 1 of the following year. Previously a $25.00 service
fee was added to each roll number. These notices are printed internally and are
assigned to staff to monitor.
1.6 Arrears notices for properties with less than two years outstanding t axes are printed by
a third party. A third mailing is sent for properties containing an outstanding amount in
the current year. No service fees were previously added to these accounts.
Municipality of Clarington Page 3
Report LGS-009-22
2. Discussion
Change of Name Form
2.1 In an effort to support diversity initiatives and to remove systemic barriers, Staff are
proposing that Clarington waive the fee for commissioning services on Ontario’s change
of name forms (currently referred to as Form 11155E for adults and Form 11156E for
children).
2.2 In particular, through the waiving of fees for the Change of Name Form, Staff believe
this will support the Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s Call to Action, where #17
states:
“We call upon all levels of government to enable residential school Survivors and
their families to reclaim names changed by the residential school system by
waiving administrative costs for a period of five years for the name -change
process and the revision of official identity documents, such as birth certificates,
passports, driver’s licenses, health cards, status cards, and social insurance
numbers.”
2.3 Additionally, the 2SLGBTQI Community experiences an extra burden when they are
going through a gender or identity change and could benefit from the waiving of the
fees.
2.4 The following shows the total revenue, by year, for Commissioner of Oaths fees:
Year Amount Collected Number of Transactions
2017 $11,300 558
2018 $14,100 555
2019 $12,750 508
2020 $9,750 385
2021 $9,900 389
Total $57,800 2,395
The above is for all commissioning services and reflects an increase from $20 to $25 in
September, 2017. It also shows the decrease in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID.
2.5 Since we provide commissioning services for all manner of forms, we can only provide
an anecdotal estimate of 5% of our transactions being for Change of Name forms.
Therefore, in a non-COVID year, we would anticipate this would be an approximately
$675/year decrease in revenue.
Municipality of Clarington Page 4
Report LGS-009-22
New Ownership Letter
2.6 A survey was completed by the local municipalities in February 2022, following the
Special General Government Committee meeting on January 31. The new ownership
fee is consistently charged by all other municipalities in Durham Region. It is
recommended to reinstate the new ownership fee at the same rate as 2017 in the
amount of $30.00. This administration fee is to cover staff time to make the necessary
changes as well as the costs to send a change of ownership letter. The change of
ownership letter is a notification to the new owner of taxes to be paid. This fee recovers
the costs of service provided to specific taxpayers, rather than general taxation services
that all taxpayers would benefit from.
Oshawa Whitby Ajax Pickering Scugog Brock Uxbridge
$25.00 $25.00 $40.90 $40.00 $30.00 $15.00 $30.00
Statement of Account
2.7 The statement of account fee is also consistently charged by all other local
municipalities. It is recommended to reinstate the statement of account fee in the
amount of $10.00/roll number.
Oshawa Whitby Ajax Pickering Scugog Brock Uxbridge
$10.00 $10.00 $20.50 $10.00 $15.00 $10.00 $15.00
Municipality of Clarington Page 5
Report LGS-009-22
Arrears Notices
2.8 Despite the arrears notice fee not being consistently charged by all local municipalities,
it is recommended the administration fee be changed from the original $25/roll number
for properties with three years outstanding taxes or greater to be $5.00/roll number for
all arrears notices issued. This is to cover the costs of printing and postage and is a
lower impact to individuals than the existing process.
Oshawa Whitby Ajax Pickering Scugog Brock Uxbridge
$5.00 $0.00 $0.00 $5.00 $6.00 $0.00 $5.00
Housekeeping of other Fees
2.9 In reviewing the changes necessary for the Commissioner of Oaths fee, Staff have
identified the following housekeeping changes that are recommended to be addressed:
Schedule “D” – Clerk’s Division Fees:
o Change title of schedule from “Clerk’s Department” to “Legislative
Services Department”
o Delete the $25 fee for “Certification of Documents” – in accordance
with the limited authority to certify documents, we no longer provide
this service.
o Delete the $15 fee for the “Snow Removal By-law” – this is not
requested and we typically forward electronic copies of by-laws to
requesters.
o Delete the $25 fee for the Live Birth Registration – municipalities do
not perform this service any longer, it is do ne by the Province.
o Delete the $25 fee for the Live Birth Confirmation – municipalities do
not perform this service any longer, it is do ne by the Province.
Municipality of Clarington Page 6
Report LGS-009-22
“Schedule “F” – General Fees:
o Delete the “11-20 pages = $5.00 + Over 20 pages = $10.00 fee” for
hard copy staff reports – this is not requested and we typically forward
electronic copies of reports to requesters.
o Delete the “Flat rate $10 up to 5 pages + $1.00 per page thereafter”
fee. We sometimes provide faxing services, however this needs to be
discouraged as Clarington should not be responsible for any lost
documents + this service is available from other retail outlets.
3. Concurrence
This report has been reviewed by the Director of Financial Services/Treasurer who
concurs with the recommendations.
4. Conclusion
It is respectfully recommended that Council approve the attached amendment to the
Fee By-law 2010-142 for rates and fees to come into effect on June 1, 2022. By
allowing these fees to be implemented on June 1, 2022, staff will be able to
communicate the finance changes through the 2022 Final Tax Brochure and through
social media platforms.
Staff Contact: June Gallagher, Municipal Clerk, 905-623-3379 ext. 2102 or
jgallagher@clarington.net.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – Draft By-law to amend the Fee By-law 2010-142
Interested Parties:
The following interested parties will be notified of Council's decision:
Clarington Diversity Advisory Committee
PFLAG Canada of Durham Region
Durham Alliance Association
Pride Durham
Durham Region Aboriginal Advisory Circle
Municipality of Clarington Page 7
Report LGS-009-22
Bawaajigewin Aboriginal Circle
Metis Nation of Ontario
Tungasuvviingat Inuit
Williams Treaties First Nations
o Alderville
o Beausoleil
o Curve Lake
o Georgina Island
o Hiawatha
o Scugog Island
o Rama
Attachment 1 to Report LGS-009-22
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Co-ordinator at 905-623-3379 ext. 2131
The Corporation of the Municipality of Clarington
By-law 2022-0XX
Being a By-law to amend Schedules D, E, and F of
the Fee By-law 2010-142
Whereas the Council for the Municipality of Clarington adopted the recommendations in
Report LGS-XXX-22 to make several amendments to Schedules D, E, and F;
Now therefore be it resolved that the Council of the Corporation of the Municipality of
Clarington enacts as follows:
1. That the Schedule “D” to By-law 2010-142 be amended as follows:
Change title of the Schedule from “Municipal Clerk’s Department” to
“Legislative Services Department”
Delete the fee for “Certification of Documents”
Delete the fee for the “Snow Removal By-law”
Delete the fee for the Live Birth Registration
Delete the fee for the Live Birth Confirmation
2. That Schedule “E” to By-law 2010-142 be amended as follows:
Change the title of the Schedule from “Finance Department” to
“Financial Services Department”
Add:
i. Ownership Change $30.00 per roll number
ii. Statement of Account $10.00 per roll number
iii. Arrears Notice $5.00 per roll number
Attachment 1 to Report LGS-XXX-22
3. That Schedule “F”, General Fees, to By-law 2010-142 be amended as
follows:
Delete the “Staff Reports” fee
Delete the “Long Distance Fax Service” fee
Change the “Commissioner of Affidavits” fee to “Commissioner of
Oaths”
Change the fee for the “Commissioner of Oaths” service to waive the
fee for Ontario “Change of Name Forms”, currently referred to as Form
11155E and Form 11156E.
4. That this By-law shall come into effect on June 1, 2022.
By-Law passed in open session this XXth day of XXX, 2022.
_____________________________________
Adrian Foster, Mayor
_____________________________________
June Gallagher, Municipal Clerk