Weekly newsletter: January 8, 2024

Hello and welcome to the first newsletter of 2024! I hope you had a restful and enjoyable Christmas holiday season.

A few eagle-eyed residents have noticed our new logo, which was quietly introduced over the new year. It’s a cleaner design, keeps all the text within the shape, and gives a nod to the origins of our community when it was first developed by the former City of Nepean. It’s the same shade of green and a slightly modernised bell!

The logo’s general shape is also a simplified representation of the ward’s boundaries!

Woodroffe Avenue daily lane closure

About 100 metres of the southbound (towards Barrhaven) left lane on Woodroffe Avenue south of Slack will be closed 9:00 am to 3:00 pm daily, next week Monday, January 15 to Friday, January 19.

The closure will provide space for road crews to set up a shift in the southbound roadway for an upcoming water main repair at the location later in the month. More information about the water main repair will be available next week or the week after.

Vehicles turning left from Slack to Woodroffe should note the lane closure on Woodroffe begins about 40 metres after you complete the turn.

From Slack, left-turning vehicles in the left lane will need to change lanes almost immediately after completing the turn, while left-turning vehicles in the right lane should watch for merging traffic. I asked staff for something safer, but was unsuccessful in that effort.

Vacant Unit Tax (VUT)

Residents may now complete their VUT declarations for the 2023 calendar year. Declarations can be completed through a ServiceOttawa online account or through the City’s VUT webpage.

Those declaring through the City’s webpage should note both the property tax roll number and an access key will be required. Access keys are in the process of being delivered via snail mail and should arrive over the next two weeks.

New this year, residents may also file their declarations in person at a municipal client service centre, such as at Ben Franklin Place.

As of the most recent update on October 27, 2023, there were 3,743 vacant units in the city, representing a rate of 1.1 per cent, which is slightly lower than Toronto and Vancouver, the only other cities in Canada with a VUT.

We won’t know how many units were put back on the market as a result of the VUT until next year’s data, but that’s also on the assumption it is directly related to the VUT.

Of the three cities, Ottawa had the highest compliance rate, with 99.1 per cent of declarations completed. Last year, the administrative cost of the VUT was $2.5 million, mostly related to startup — the cost is expected to significantly decrease this year and in future years.

Balanced against a revenue of about $13 million, some $10.5 million was generated towards funding affordable housing initiatives for the 2024 tax year.

The revenue towards affordable housing is important, but I generally don’t believe it’s the right way to raise funds for it (nor is it truly a municipal responsibility to fund it… administer it yes, but not funding it).

Although the VUT is not intended to be punitive, the black-and-white nature of the tax has seen people in unique circumstances being caught in the net with no real way out.

Last summer, I was part of a group of Councillors that attempted to cancel the VUT, but the motion was defeated in an 8-to-15 vote.

Usually, matters defeated at Council can’t be discussed again in the same term without new information, but as each tax year’s data is considered new information, that will not be a problem.

Council also asked staff for process simplification and improvements, such as reducing the frequency of declarations and additional exemptions to account for some unique circumstances if the VUT ultimately lives on.

Updates on the program and its fate should come later as the year progresses.

New Year’s Eve event

Since starting the job, Councillor Hill and I were very interested in starting a New Year’s Eve family event for Barrhaven.

Thanks to the support of community organisations and several local businesses, and mostly thanks to every resident who visited, our first New Year’s Eve event at Walter Baker was a resounding success!

Over four hours, some 3,000 residents of all ages and backgrounds visited Walter Baker to enjoy skating, swimming, face painting, comfort food, crafts, sleigh rides, and s’mores at a fire pit… all for free!

Councillor Hill and I could not have asked for a better inaugural event. We’ve taken away so many lessons and potential improvements and hope to come back with an even bigger and better event to say bye to 2024 (look at me, the new year just started and I’m already thinking about the end).

We have already started planning, and hope to have lots of exciting details to share later in the year!

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

-Wilson