City of St. John's joins feds in giving businesses a break
The City of St. John's is extending the deadline for the commercial business tax and vacancy allowance claims, in the wake of the massive storm that prompted officials to shut down the city for days.
Business owners now have until Feb. 28, specifically by 4:30 p.m. on that day, to pay the commercial business tax, instead of the previous deadline of Jan. 31. Payments made during the month of February will be applied to the previous month's deadline, which will mean businesses have an extra 28 days to avoid any interest that would have accumulated.
This extension doesn't apply to tipping fees at the Robin Hood Bay Waste Management Facility.
There is another extension, albeit a shorter one, for filing vacancy allowance claims. Those for the third and fourth quarters of 2019, normally due Jan. 31, will be accepted up to and including Feb. 14.
One day before, the federal government announcing that affected businesses in St. John's will get an extension on their HST remittance. That deadline is Feb. 10.
Employees feeling the financial crunch, too
The measures are designed to help alleviate the pressure some businesses say they're facing after the state of emergency, which shuttered most stores during January, a month that is typically a challenge for businesses coming off Christmas and dealing with winter weather.
But it isn't just people who run businesses feeling the pinch, and so far, no specific recourse has been provided.
Many businesses have said on social media they would be paying employees for lost wages, but others said they simply couldn't afford it. And there is no legal requirement for employers to pay their workers during a state of emergency.
"It's stressful on them and it's stressful on us," Dave Hopley, co-owner of Rocket Bakery, told The St. John's Morning Show. "We just don't have the cash reserves. We're not sitting on a pile of cash."
While politicians, including Premier Dwight Ball and Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair, said they would look for ways to help affected workers, neither has yet offered firm commitments.
Blair said Ottawa is "going to do our very best to be there for them."
He said there are criteria and a program in place, and discussions are underway.
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