3 days Ago By Tyler Searle
The owner of a luxury limo service successfully appealed a city order to shutter his business Monday, allowing him to keep the doors open while he prepares to settle six years of unpaid taxes. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * The owner of a luxury limo service successfully appealed a city order to shutter his business Monday, allowing him to keep the doors open while he prepares to settle six years of unpaid taxes. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? The owner of a luxury limo service successfully appealed a city order to shutter his business Monday, allowing him to keep the doors open while he prepares to settle six years of unpaid taxes.
London Limos owner Hardev Singh Sandhu has 60 days to negotiate a repayment plan with the tax department or the City of Winnipeg will finalize an order to cease all operations at his company, city council’s finance committee ruled Monday. “I’m going to allow the appeal in part ..
. but only because if we shut down the business we really have no opportunity to gather taxes,” Coun. Janice Lukes said.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Hardev Singh Sandhu, owner of London Limos, has 60 days to negotiate a repayment plan with the tax department of the City of Winnipeg. “Every business owner in the city knows that you have to pay taxes and there should be no excuse not to.” According to the tax department, London Limos owed the city nearly $145,000 as of Sept.
1. The figure accounts for unpaid business fees dating back to 2018, including around $98,000 in penalties. Sandhu, who appeared before the committee, said he believed he was incorrectly charged as the sole renter of a 10,000-square-foot building at 1595 Erin St.
between 2018 and 2023 — despite only occupying around 1,000 sq. ft. He said the city had issued occupancy permits to three other businesses operating in the property but continued to bill him for the full amount, causing the fees to become too high for him to pay.
City records show Sandhu’s annual rental value rose from $43,260 to $135,660 after an assessment in 2017. The rental value is based, in part, on the square footage a business occupies. The tax department uses the figure to determine what the owner should pay in taxes.
Nicholas Ruta, the city’s manager of assessment services, said the businesses were sharing space at the time and the property was not separated into self-contained units, therefore London Limos received a single business assessment for the entire building. The Erin Street property is owned by a different corporation than London Limos, but is listed under the same business directors, he noted. London Limos rental value was reduced to $14,040 in 2022, after an assessor revisited and confirmed it was only using a portion of the building.
Sandhu remains on the hook for the existing fees because he did not appeal the previous assessments, said Tim Austin, director of city assessment. There is no way to retroactively appeal taxes that are more than two years old, he said. Austin stressed Monday’s committee hearing was solely to decide whether the city would uphold the order to close the business — not to determine how much Sandhu should pay in taxes.
He described the order as a “last resort” and said the city has only exercised the power once before. Sandhu is the first person to appeal such an order. Lukes approved Sandhu’s appeal in part, alongside finance chair Coun.
Jeff Browaty and fellow committee members Coun. John Orlikow and Coun. Jason Schreyer.
The hearing stretched for two hours, with the councillors asking Austin to outline the efforts the tax department made to collect fees from Sandhu. Austin provided a report showing the city sent more than a dozen bills, reminders, appeal notices, warnings and collection warrants since 2018. Many of the documents included information on how to apply for a revision to his business assessment.
In 2019, a city staffer also explained to Sandhu in person how to have his assessment revised, Austin said. Sandhu said he attempted to resolve the issue by placing calls with 311 and visiting city hall to speak with clerks, but eventually he became frustrated and gave up. He did not offer a clear explanation of why he did not formally apply for a revision.
“I think the message we need to share to all business owners, to all Winnipegers, is if you feel there is something wrong, if there is a question about your assessment, you really do need to stay on top of it. Six years later is not a time frame (in which) there is any provision to go back and revisit anything,” Browaty said. “It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this.
” Several longtime employees of London Limos spoke during the hearing. All endorsed Sandhu as an honest businessman and a kind boss. Wednesdays A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom.
“London Limos wants to pay its obligations, but I want the city to rethink about what it’s being posed to London Limos,” Sandhu told the committee. “This is not a fair game ..
. there was an error.” In June, Sandhu offered payments of $500 per month to address the debt, but a supervisor in the taxation department said the city required a $20,000 down payment and monthly payments of $6,400, a city report says.
While council has the authority under its charter to cancel taxes, Austin said he has never heard of that power being exercised. Sandhu declined to speak with reporters after the hearing. tyler.
[email protected] Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the ‘s city desk.
A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the , and before joining the paper in 2022. . Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism.
Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider .
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support. Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the ‘s city desk.
A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the , and before joining the paper in 2022. . Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism.
Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider .
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support. Advertisement Advertisement.
