By-laws requiring taxes to be paid into office of treasurer or collector
399.(1)In local municipalities, the council may by by-law require the payment of taxes, including local improvement assessments, sewer rents and rates, and of other rents or rates payable as taxes, to be made into the office of the treasurer or collector by any day or days to be named therein, in bulk or by instalments, and may provide that on the punctual payment of any instalment the time for payment of the remaining instalment or instalments shall be extended to a day or days to be named, or may provide that in default of payment of any instalment by the day named for payment thereof, the subsequent instalment or instalments shall forthwith become payable. Crown property (2)A by-law under subsection (1) may contain provisions with respect to the payment of taxes by tenants of lands owned by the Crown or in which the Crown has an interest, in which case the by-law shall provide that, where any such tenant has been employed either within or outside the municipality by the same employer for not less than thirty days, such employer shall pay over to the treasurer or collector on demand out of any wages, salary or other remuneration due to such employee the amount then payable for taxes under the by-law and such payment relieves the employer from any liability to the employee for the amount so paid. Penalty for non-payment of taxes (3)The council may by by-law impose a percentage charge as a penalty for non-payment of taxes or any class or instalment thereof not exceeding 1 1/4 per cent on the first day of default and on the first day of each calendar month thereafter in which default continues, but not after the end of the year in which the taxes are levied. Idem (4)As an alternative to a by-law passed under subsection (3), the council may by by-law impose a percentage charge as a penalty for non-payment of taxes or any class or instalment thereof not exceeding 15 per cent per annum, or such lower rate as the council determines, from the date payment is due until it is made or until the 31st day of December of the year in which the taxes were levied, whichever is earlier. Discount or interest on payments in advance (5)The council may by by-law authorize the treasurer or collector to receive in any year payments on account of taxes for that year in advance of the day that may be fixed by by-law for the payment of any instalment of such taxes and, (a) to allow a discount on any taxes so paid in advance at a rate not exceeding 12 per cent per annum and may allow interest at a rate not exceeding 12 per cent per annum on account of taxes so paid in advance for any portion of the period for which no discount is allowed; or (b) to allow interest on taxes paid in advance of the day fixed by by-law for the payment of any instalment of such taxes at a rate not exceeding 12 per cent per annum, even if the taxes for such year have not been levied or that the assessment roll on which such taxes are to be fixed and levied has not been revised and certified by the Assessment Review Board when any such advance payment is made, and a by-law passed under this subsection remains in force from year to year until it is repealed or amended. Notice as to time and mode of payment (6)If a by-law is passed providing for payment by instalments or allowing any such discount or imposing any such additional percentage charge, a notice shall be given in accordance with section 392 on which shall be written or printed a concise statement of the time and manner of payment and of the discount allowed or the percentage charge imposed, if any, and at any time within twenty-one days or such longer period as the council may authorize after such notice has first been given, in accordance with section 392, any person may take advantage of the provisions of such by-law as to payment by instalments or with the discount allowed thereby, or without the additional percentage charge imposed thereby, as the case may be. By-law to be in force until return of collector’s roll (7)Where, in accordance with this section, a percentage is added to unpaid taxes, the by-laws shall not be repealed before the return of the collector’s roll. Provision for payment of taxes into bank, etc. (8)The council of any municipality may by by-law direct that money payable to the municipality for taxes or rates and upon such other accounts as may be mentioned in the by-law shall be paid by the collector of taxes or by the person charged with the payment thereof into such bank listed in Schedule I or II to the Bank Act (Canada), trust corporation, or Province of Ontario Savings Office or, subject to the Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Act, into such credit union within the meaning of that Act, as the council shall by such by-law direct, to the credit of the treasurer of the municipality, and in such case the person making the payment shall obtain a receipt therefor, and the treasurer or collector of taxes shall make the proper entries therefor in the books of the municipality. By-law to authorize part payment of taxes due (9)The council of any municipality may by by-law authorize the treasurer and the collector of taxes to accept part payment from time to time on account of any taxes due and to give a receipt for such part payment, provided that acceptance of any such part payment does not affect the collection of any percentage charge imposed and collectable under subsection (3) in respect of non-payment of any taxes or any class of taxes or of any instalment thereof. Disposition of part payment of taxes (10)Where the treasurer or the collector of taxes receives part payment on account of taxes due for any year, he or she shall credit such part payment first on account of the interest and percentage charges, if any, added to such taxes, and, where such taxes are required to be paid by instalments under a by-law passed under subsection (1), the remainder of such payment shall be credited first against the instalment first due and secondly against the instalment next due, and so on, until the whole of the remainder of the payment has been credited against such taxes. Payment of instalments in areas (11)The council of any municipality may by by-law divide the municipality into separate areas for the purposes of this Part, and in any by-law providing for the payment of taxes by instalments may for every such area name a different day within a fixed period of time for the payment of any instalment. R.S.O. 1990, c. M.45, s. 399.