Articles & Publications

Article, Staff | June 3, 2024 | Michael Moll

Legal Issues in Municipal Tax Sales – 2024

Tax sales have been a municipal collection remedy in British Columbia for over a century. More recently, tax sales of property in Penticton, Spallumcheen and Pemberton have attracted media attention and revealed the significant financial and emotional risk to owners, and the significant liability risk to municipalities, that can arise from misunderstanding or being unaware that a property has been sold for municipal tax sales. When conducting a tax sale, a collector’s first reference should always be to the procedures set out in the Local Government Act, RSBC 2015, c 1 and the Community Charter, SBC 2003, c 26 .1 The intention of this paper is to provide supplementary commentary on legal issues that arise from matters not expressly covered in the statute.

Presented at the GFOABC Annual Conference in Kamloops, BC on June 4, 2024.

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Article, Staff | May 16, 2024 | Michael Moll

Questions of Duty, Discretion and Liability: When Every Bylaw Cannot be Effectively Enforced Everywhere All at Once

A local government bylaw enforcement officer will be aware of many bylaw contraventions within their community. The responses from the community and the local government to these contraventions may differ widely. This paper addresses several questions that commonly arise with regard to when and how bylaw enforcement action should be taken.

Presented at the LGCEA Annual Conference on May 16, 2024.

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Article, Staff | June 1, 2023 | Michael Moll

Tree Protection: Trees, Unlike Dogs, are All Bark and No Bite

This paper provides a review of the regulatory tools that municipalities and local governments use to protect urban forests and environmentally sensitive areas through tree protection bylaws and the regulation of development. Regulation depends on enforcement, and this paper discusses some strategies for achieving effective enforcement in relation to trees.

Presented at the LIBOA Annual Conference, June 1, 2023.

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Article, Staff | May 29, 2023 | Michael Moll

Legal Issues in Municipal Tax Sales

Tax sales have been a municipal collection remedy in British Columbia for over a century. More recently, tax sales of property in Penticton, Spallumcheen and Pemberton have attracted media attention and revealed the significant financial and emotional risk to owners, and the significant liability risk to municipalities, that can arise from misunderstanding or being unaware that a property has been sold for municipal tax sales. When conducting a tax sale, a collector’s first reference should always be to the procedures set out in the Local Government Act and the Community Charter. The intention of this paper is to provide supplementary commentary on legal issues that arise from matters not expressly covered in the statute.

Presented at the GFOABC Annual Conference, May 30, 2023.

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Article, Staff | April 5, 2023 | Michael Moll

Liability Claims for Ineffective Enforcement – What’s Scary and What’s a Scare Tactic

It can be difficult to distinguish the situations in which liability is a real legal concern from those in which claims of potential liability are overblown and used to scare local governments into prioritizing a particular enforcement action. This paper discusses the legal principles that relate to the duties and discretions of a local government in conducting bylaw enforcement and how the risk of a successful claim being proven in court in relation to ineffective enforcement can depend significantly on where the contravention occurs.

Presented at MIABC Risk Management Conference, April 6, 2023.

 

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Article, Staff | January 25, 2023 | Michael Moll

Tax Sales for Municipal Finance Officers

This paper will discuss current legal trends regarding notices, upset prices and post-redemption period court challenges to tax sales as each of these can have a significant impact on municipal liability. This paper assumes the reader has a general understanding of the mechanics of the tax sale process and is not intended to be a step-by-step guide.

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