The city has been sending letters to the 68,000 property owners across Hamilton who have signed up for pre-authorized payment plans, informing them of the resumption of withdrawals and the revised schedule. Photo Credit: Unsplash.
In the midst of the major cybersecurity incident targeting City of Hamilton services since Feb. 25, the municipality has announced that pre-authorized property tax withdrawals will resume “for the majority of taxpayers.”
The city reportedly put property tax withdrawals on hold during the cybersecurity incident in order “to ensure the security of financial information and the accuracy of billing.”
As a result of the delay, withdrawals will be made on a revised schedule.
The city is now in “recovery mode” from the cybersecurity incident and services are slowly being restored.
The city has been sending letters to the 68,000 property owners across Hamilton who have signed up for pre-authorized payment plans, informing them of the resumption of withdrawals and the revised schedule.
Although the city has changed the withdrawal dates, withdrawal amounts remain unchanged and will match the amounts identified on a resident’s 2024 Pre-Authorized Payment Plan Notice which was issued in December 2023.
The City of Hamilton website says that if a resident’s bank account balance is not sufficient to cover the pre-authorized payment amount at the time of withdrawal, the bank will automatically reattempt withdrawal within 7 to 10 business days.
If there are not enough funds in time for the second withdrawal attempt, residents will incur a non-sufficient funds fee from their bank.
But the city has clarified that they will credit property tax roll accounts for any non-sufficient funds fees incurred by residents between February 25, 2024, and May 31, 2024, in relation to withdrawals.
The city will also be waiving their administrative fee for returned payments during the same window.
Despite the announcement, the city also warns that there may be some taxpayers who have signed up for pre-authorized payments who are “not captured in the initial efforts” to resume withdrawals.
The city’s website states that further updates will be provided to those residents and anyone who has any questions can contact taxsupport@hamilton.ca or call 905-546-2489.
Officials have also been sure to reiterate that there is “no evidence that people’s personal financial data has been compromised” as a result of the cybersecurity incident.
The revised schedules for the five payment plans are as follows:
For those on a 10-month or 12-month pre-authorized payment plan with normal withdrawals on the first day of the month, the March 1 deferred withdrawal will now be withdrawn on April 15, April 1 deferred withdrawal will now be withdrawn on May 1, May 1 withdrawal will now be withdrawn on May 15, and June 1 and subsequent withdrawals will proceed as originally scheduled.
For those on a 12-month plan with normal withdrawals on the 15th day of the month, the March 15 deferred withdrawal will now be withdrawn on April 15, April 15 withdrawal will now be withdrawn on May 1, and May 15 and subsequent withdrawals will proceed as originally scheduled.
For those on the Arrears plan with withdrawals on the last business day of the month, the Feb. 29 deferred withdrawal will now be withdrawn on April 15, March 28 deferred withdrawal will now be withdrawn on May 1, April 30 withdrawal will now be withdrawn on May 15, and May 31 and subsequent withdrawals will proceed as originally scheduled.
Finally, for those on the Instalment plan with withdrawals on instalment due dates, the February 29 deferred withdrawal will now be withdrawn on April 30, April 30 withdrawal will now be withdrawn on May 31, and remaining withdrawals will be identified on 2024 final tax bills.
For all payment plans, once June 2024 is reached the original withdrawal schedule will be followed until the 2024 final tax bill is issued.
Then once the final bill is issued, monthly payments will be adjusted based on the actual final billing information.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
