Inverness County’s $16.9 million budget has been passed, but it came with a tax increase.
The warden says, that’s, in part, due to a loss of an estimated $245,000 in commercial tax revenue from a recent provincial bill, Bill 99, which classes short term rentals as residential for tax purposes.
After Thursday’s Inverness County Council meeting, Warden Betty Ann MacQuarrie told The Hawk, it’s good for rental owners, but not for municipal revenue.
“It’s very welcoming to those who want to run Airbnb or short term rentals, but for us it’s a loss of commercial tax income.”
Also in that meeting, the Inverness County CAO said the county lost $338,000 of tax revenue for charitable tax exemptions.
