City Hall waives interest and penalties on unpaid taxes for 60 days

Londoners will not be charged any late penalties or interest fees forunpaid property taxbills due at the end of Marchfor two more months thanks to a move by the City of Londonto helplessen the financial burdenbrought onby the COVID-19 pandemic.

During Tuesday's council meeting, politicians unanimously approved three measures to provide economic relief to Londoners and local businesses during this time, which include:

• Waiving interestand penalties for 60 days on unpaid Interim 2020 property taxes that are due March 31.
• Waiving interestand penalties for a minimum of60 days on unpaid water and wastewater bills.
• All Community Improvement Plan (CIP) loan repayments will be deferred on an interest-free basis for a minimum period of 60 days.

"City Council and staff have acted quickly to take this first important step in providing Londoners with immediate economic relief," Acting Mayor Jesse Helmersaid in a statement.

"These initial measures will help ease some of the financial burden our residents and our business community are facing during this unprecedented and challenging time," he added.

The measures, which were approved for 60 days, may be extended as politicians asked staff to report back with further steps on how to help Londoners, including a potential deferral of the next paymentinstallment scheduled for June.