The City of Niagara Falls requested a review of a Board decision that cancelled the taxpayers' 2023 municipal taxes under s. 357(1)(d.1) of the Municipal Act, 2001 due to sickness.
The City argued the Board violated procedural fairness when one panel member completed the hearing alone, and that the Board erred in law by not requiring the taxpayers to exhaust all resources to pay taxes.
The Reviewing Member dismissed the procedural fairness ground, noting s. 4.4(2) of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act permits a remaining member to complete a hearing.
However, the Reviewing Member found a significant error of law because the original decision applied a subjective test based on the taxpayers' actual expenses.
Applying the recent M.A.N. v Hamilton (City) decision, the Board held that the objective standard for basic living necessities in a sickness application is Canada's Official Poverty Line (Market Basket Measure).
The Request for Review was granted and a rehearing ordered.
