THUNDER BAY – Low-income seniors and persons with disabilities could get a financial boost next year to help cover the costs of removing snow from the ends of their driveways.
About 400 residents could be eligible to receive a $200 tax credit to pay for the snow removal, after city council on Monday night voted in favour of the $80,000 expansion to the existing Tax Credit Program for Low-Income Seniors and Low-Income Persons with Disabilities. The initiative would have to be approved during next year’s budget deliberation process before it would take effect.
Administration had been directed in February to explore ways to assist seniors and persons with a disability in clearing the ends of driveways from snow buildup left by plows.
Alternatives considered included partnering with an existing program previously run by the Red Cross that is being taken over by the Victorian Order of Nurses, but that was estimated to cost $180,000. Another option would have been adding a snow clearing attachment to roads crews, but that was pegged at initial capital costs of $4.7 million and annual operating costs of $1 million.
City roads manager Brad Adams said the initiative is a rebate program that provides flexibility.
“It provides the resident with available funds to contact a service provider and schedule for that snow removal,” Adams said. “It will be up to them to determine when they want the service and how much service they want.”
The tax credit would be available to seniors over 65 and persons with disability receiving money either through the Ontario Disability Support Program or Canada Pension Plan, each with a total income less than $37,000 per year.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson, who was the lone dissenting vote, said she supports providing assistance but was critical of how the program will operate and the limited number of people that would benefit.
But Coun. Iain Angus said that’s exactly the point.
“Any senior who makes more than $37,000 a year in income will not be covered,” Angus said. “But one will assume that they could afford to hire the kid next door to shovel the windrow in front of them.”
