Dauphin property owners should be watching their mailboxes as the City has sent out its 2023 property tax notices.

Taxes are due by July 31, Dauphin’s director of finance Scott Carr said, adding people are normally very good at providing the money the City uses to fund its operations on time.

“Generally speaking we have over a 90 per cent collection by July 31. When the bills first go out usually we’re really busy and then there’s a bit of a pause. And then late July it starts to get really busy again. But by the end of July, in a typical year, we will have collected 90 per cent or more,” Carr said. “It depends on the year. If you have a few large tax bills still outstanding it could impact that quite a bit, but generally speaking we see it around 90 per cent collected.”

About five years ago the City began offering an automated withdrawal program which allows property owners to pay their taxes through monthly withdrawals right from their bank accounts, Carr said the program is starting to catch on.

“Right now about 10 of people are on it. It started off slow, but as time goes on it’s picking up, Carr said, adding banks are starting to refer customers to the process rather than collecting taxes as part of a mortgage payment. “It just facilitates the collection both from the customer paying point of view and then our collection point of view. It really streamlines the process.

“It’s good for us, it’s good for the customer and it really helps with the collection side of things.”

Those wanting to take part in the program have a couple of options to get started.

“Simply call city hall,” Carr said. “Or we have forms online. Go to dauphin.ca to sign up and we’ll get you set up.”