The following article appeared in the April 18 edition of the Gueph Mercury:
There’s nothing the city can do to compensate downtown merchants when their property is damaged by rowdy patrons of downtown bars.
A bar-stool tax wouldn’t help, Mayor Karen Farbridge said yesterday, since the city’s hands are tied when it comes to using public money to fund private interests. The Downtown Guelph Business Association wouldn’t be able to help for the same reasons.
“There’s misunderstanding in the community about that,” Farbridge said at a meeting of the governance committee. “One of the biggest day-to-day frustrations of this can’t be addressed by a bar-stool tax.”
Forcing a levy on downtown bars and late-night food establishments has been suggested as a way to recoup costs associated with cleanup and policing the core.
But the idea received little support from the committee yesterday, which passed a staff recommendation for the city to continue to work co-operatively with the downtown business association and the downtown nightlife task force, whose membership includes Guelph Police, the University of Guelph, bars and other stakeholders. City staff say there’s been a reduction in problems associated with the downtown bar scene over the last year.
Councillor Ian Findlay, a member of the task force, said a bar-stool levy would create a two-tier tax system — one tax for downtown bars and another for those elsewhere in the city. He said taxes should be evenly distributed, based on the financial costs associated with the community.
But Coun. Gloria Kovach reminded councillors that a levy may need to be considered in the future.
“I don’t think we can lose sight of a recovery tax that would reduce the burden for overall taxation,” she said.
Audrey Jamal, executive director of the downtown business association, told committee that a bar-stool tax wouldn’t get to the root of the problem. What’s needed is to move forward with the Community Improvement Plan to encourage residential development in the core.
In the meantime, she stressed the need for better lighting, public washrooms and more garbage cans in the downtown.
City staff estimate it costs $125,000 for downtown policing and $49,000 for operational staff to clean up after late-night revelers. Previously, the figure was reported as being around $400,000.
Peter Cartwright, manager of economic development, said the old number erroneously included costs for the whole city and were not specific to downtown.
The issue goes to council April 28.