A $100 grant for seniors will continue into the future after St. Albert councillors endorsed the property tax assistance grant program for senior homeowners.
The standing committee on finance voted to recommend a continuation of the three-year pilot program that expires after this year. This means that $65,000 will be included in the 2012 budget, which will be debated and approved at the council level this fall.
This year is the last for the pilot that provided $100 to low-income seniors as a way to alleviate the burden of property taxes.
For Coun. Cathy Heron, continuing the scheme is a small but significant way the city can help seniors.
“I’m not sure how far $100 will go for a senior’s income but I’m sure it does help,” she said. “It indicates that St. Albert is committed to doing what they can to help with the property taxes.”
When the grant was originally conceived, it was estimated that there were 550 qualifying households in St. Albert. The program provided grants to 497 people in 2009 and grew to 568 in 2010, for a growth rate of 14 per cent.
“I think there are still some seniors out there that are unaware that they qualify so [the program] will have to be marketed a bit more,” Heron said. “I think we’re doing what we can for now.”
The city has received several expressions of thanks for the grant, said Mayor Nolan Crouse, who thinks the program does help people on a fixed income.
“A hundred dollars means a lot to people in that income category,” Crouse said. “There are a certain percentage of people in the community that are income challenged and own a home.”
Dick Tansey, chair of St. Albert’s chapter of Seniors United Now, liked the move to continue the program. But he noted seniors can only receive the $100 grant if they also qualify for provincial assistance, which has thresholds that exclude many.
The Alberta Seniors Benefit Program is available for single seniors with income of $24,500 or less and senior couples with combined annual income of $39,900.
“It’s a great idea,” Tansey said of the grant extension. “The downside to that of course is you have to qualify for it.”
