If you live in the Region of Queens and access income tax filing services through the nation-wide volunteer run program, you may be lining up in the cold this year.
The municipality will no longer be volunteering their staff to book appointments for the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP).
The decision, which was made about a month ago, was discussed at Tuesday night’s regular council meeting.
“There were several councillors that were interested in finding a solution other than our staff taking on that added role. So, I am optimistic there are other solutions,” Norman said in an interview after the meeting.
The bookings have been offered by the municipality in the past, despite the service being offered by an outside organization. If a solution isn’t found, the service will operate on a walk-in basis this year.
Over 800 people living in the municipality accessed tax filing services last year, Norman said, but she points out staff responsible easily fielded over 2000 calls from interested people.
“I suspect we are one of the few municipalities that actually take the bookings for the appointment time.”
Council decided to defer the discussion to the next meeting so they can find other options.
