One Essex County community is taking steps toward eliminating an incentive for landlords to keep properties empty.
Leamington council voted on a motion Monday night to accept a report suggesting that the municipality start the process of dropping the vacancy tax rebate.
This is part of a process put in action by the county, which began efforts last month to cut out a rebate that some believe is no longer useful.
A survey was sent out to Essex County residents last month to see what they thought of the program. Despite the survey having only 32 responses at the time the report was drawn up, a vast majority of respondents say they don't benefit from such a tax break.
Most respondents to the survey also believe that eliminating the rebate would have limited negative impact on their community.
The rebate was begun as a relief for landlords who are not generating any rental income on one of their properties. However, municipalities have recently started to dump the practice, saying it only encourages empty storefronts in business districts.
Other Essex County communities are expected to make their own decision on the vacancy rebate by the end of 2017 for the change to take effect in the 2018 taxation year. At that time, Essex County Council is expected to send a report to the Ontario Ministry of Finance, which has the power to implement the rebate change.