A special meeting of Lethbridge City Council will take place in three weeks to discuss tax issues related to COVID-19.

On Monday (Apr. 20), Councillors gave first reading to the 2020 Property Tax and Special Tax Bylaw

They also passed a motion to hold a special meeting on May 11th to provide second and third readings.

Two weeks ago, both Economic Development and the Chamber of Commerce had asked Council what it could do in terms of deferring property taxes.

Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman says the Alberta government is cancelling the planned increase on the education portion of property taxes and has allowed a deferral for non-residential customers only.

He says there is nothing else from the province, so the only other options would be to levy city taxes as planned or any deferrals at the local level would have to be at the expense of remaining taxpayers.

The Mayor notes Council will have to look at all this very carefully before making any decisions.