Taxes and Water

The City of Elliot Lake offers a variety of payment options for your property tax and water accounts so you can choose the method that is most convenient for you:

• Preauthorized Payment Plan (PAP) 
  For more details, see “Preauthorized Payment Plan (PAP)” tab below
  
  
• Online & Telebanking 
  For more details, see “Paying your Tax and Water Bills Online” tab below
  
  
• At Your Financial Institution 
  Bring your applicable bill/notice with the account number; your payment will be processed within a few business days and their date stamp on your bill/notice becomes your official receipt
  
  
• At City Hall Front Desk Client Services; Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm (excluding holidays)
  Bring your applicable bill/notice with the account number; your payment of cash, debit or cheque will be processed by the following business day and your official receipt is provided
  
  
• At City Hall Drop Box Located Outside at the Front Door
  Please include the applicable account number; your payment of cheque, money order or certified cheque (do NOT leave cash) will be processed by the following business day
  
  
• Regular Mail 
  Please include the applicable account number and allow sufficient time before your payment is due; your payment of cheque, money order or certified cheque (do NOT mail cash) will be processed by the following business day that it is received. Your mail must be addressed to:

City of Elliot Lake 
Tax or Water Department
45 Hillside Drive North
Elliot Lake, ON P5A 1X5

The City of Elliot Lake offers 2 preauthorized payment plan (PAP) options for both property taxes and residential water: monthly or by installment. (If you have a balance remaining on your tax and/or water account, it will be included in your withdrawal amount calculations or payment arrangements may be required prior to signing up for PAP. Please contact the tax/water department for details.)

Option 1: Monthly

• The property tax and/or residential water payment will automatically be withdrawn from your bank account on a monthly basis.
• Water monthly payments will be recalculated every January; you will receive notification of the new payment amount after the December payment is withdrawn.
• Tax monthly payments will be recalculated every August and every January; you will receive notification of the new payment amounts after the July and December payments are withdrawn respectively.

Option 2: Installment Due Date

• The full amount due will automatically be withdrawn from your bank account on every applicable installment due date.
• The amounts due and the due dates are listed on your bills.

How to begin:

Simply complete and submit the authorization form(s) below; along with a void cheque or your banking information. Staff will contact you to confirm when they have been processed. 

• Water Pre-authorized payment form available for residential water accounts
  
• Tax Pre-authorized payment form available for property tax accounts

Submit your completed form(s) and void cheque to the City via:

• Email
• City Hall front desk or drop box at front door 
• Regular mail adressed to:

City of Elliot Lake 
Tax or Water Department
45 Hillside Drive North
Elliot Lake, ON P5A 1X5

To Cancel or Update your info:

To cancel or update your PAP, you may complete and submit the PAP Cancellation or Update Form or contact the tax/water department for more details.

Payments that are returned by your financial institution are subject to a fee. Customers set up on PAP with two returned payments in a 12-month period will be removed from the plan. Any balance will then become due on the regular due dates and any outstanding amounts after the due dates will be subject to applicable penalties. 

Most financial institutions offer internet or telephone banking. If you need help setting up your water or property tax payments through online banking, please contact your financial institution. Please allow at least 3 business days for the City to receive and process your payment.

How to pay your water and property taxes online:

1. Under “add a payee”, search for “ELLIOT LAKE”
2. Select the applicable account option:

ELLIOT LAKE (CITY) – WATER/UTILITY

• Choose this option to make a payment on your water account.
• Enter your 3 to 7 digit water account number; no spaces, dashes or decimals (Example: 1234500)

ELLIOT LAKE (CITY) – TAX

• Choose this option to make a payment on your property tax account.
• Enter your 19 digit property roll number starting with “5741”; no spaces, dashes or decimals 
  (Example: 5741000012345670000) *Depending on your financial institution, you may be required to enter a 20 or 21 digit account number. If this is the case, simply add an extra zero as needed at the end of your 19 digit roll number until accepted. 

To authorize to have all tax and water bills/notices sent directly to the email address you provide instead of by mail, simply complete and submit the form in this link below:

Request and Authorization for Electronic Bills

It is recommended to frequently check your junk/spam folder until you have marked the emails you receive from the City as “safe”. Please contact the tax/water department if you do not receive your bills/notices as expected.

To authorize to have the mailing address updated for your tax and water accounts, simply complete and submit the form in this link below:

Change My Address Online Form

Your lawyer should notify the City on closing and provide the legal documentation required to transfer the property tax and water accounts to/from your name. At that time, they would adjust the property tax and water accounts as applicable as part of the sale (example: any arrears would be paid out and deducted from sale price). Please contact the tax/water department for more details.

If you had preauthorized payments (PAP) with the property you sold, you must notify the City to cancel them accordingly. PAP is not transferable; you can start PAP at your new property by submitting new authorization forms.

Tax and water certificates are documents meant to be supplied to lawyers acting for the owner on the purchase or sale of a property. Certificates give specific tax and/or water account information like the annual levies, billing/due dates, any current or prior year arrears, etc. The information is valid at the time of issuance, so these are typically ordered prior to the closing date.

The current fee charged for each certificate is $87.01 ($77.00 + $10.01 HST).

Certificates are only generated, printed and sent once payment has been received; turnaround time is typically within a business day. The City of Elliot Lake reserves the right to request additional information before generation of the certificate.

• To order and pay by credit card use our easy online form.
• If not paying online with credit card, please mail your request along with a cheque made payable to “The City of Elliot Lake". Your request and cheque must be mailed to:

City of Elliot Lake 
Tax or Water Department
45 Hillside Drive North
Elliot Lake, ON P5A 1X5

Residential and Churches

Residential and religious institution water accounts are billed per unit as a flat annual rate. Bills are sent out semi-annually, they each cover a 6 month period:

• The 1st Installment is billed at the end of January; it is due the first Thursday of March
• The 2nd installment is billed at the end of May; it is due the first Thursday of July (unless it falls on a holiday, then it will be the second Thursday)

Commercial and Multi-Residential

Commercial water accounts are billed per unit based on consumption per cubic meter. Bills are sent out quarterly, they include the minimum charge (based on the current annual rate) and each cover a 3 month period. Should the water meter fail to read for that specific billing period, the average consumption based on historical data will be billed.

Multi-residential water accounts are billed per unit as a flat annual rate. Bills are sent out quarterly, they each cover a 3 month period:

• The 1st quarter is billed at the end of January; it is due the second Thursday of March
• The 2nd quarter is billed at the end of April; it is due the second Thursday of June
• The 3rd quarter is billed at the end of July; it is due the second Thursday of September
• The 4th quarter is billed at the end of October; it is due the second Thursday of December

To view the current Water Rate please view the Water Rates By-Law found in the Frequently Requested By-Laws drop down on our By-Law Information page.

Each year the City will establish a budget to provide for municipal services and infrastructure. The fees for the consumption of water and the use of the waste water are included.

City Council will approve the proposed budget presented by passing a by-law; the new water rate begins January 1st of each year.

If you would like/need to have the water service shut off or turned back on, please contact the Public Works Department at 705-848-2287 ext. 2600 to arrange it.

If I do not pay my water bill in full by the due date, will I be charged a penalty?

A one-time penalty of 10% of the levy amount is applied to any account with a past due balance the day after the installment due date.

If you cannot pay your bill in full by the due date, please contact the Water Department by email or call 705.848.2287 ext. 2108 to discuss payment arrangements.

If a water account balance remains outstanding despite multiple requests for payment, the City of Elliot Lake reserves the right to disconnect a water service should the account be past due beyond 30 days after the due date. In this instance, a 24-hour shut off notice will be delivered, the Public Works Department will disconnect your service and the OFF/ON charge of $100.00 will be applied to your account. At this point, the outstanding balance must be paid in full prior to reconnection of service.

To better protect property owners, the City of Elliot Lake is phasing out the practice of transferring water accounts into tenants’ names. Municipal water accounts are tied to the property — similar to property taxes — rather than to an individual person. As a result, property owners remain ultimately responsible for any outstanding water charges, regardless of who is making the payments.

If a tenant that currently holds the water account in their name moves out, the water account will be transferred back to the property owner at the current mailing address on file for property taxes. The water account will not be transferred into another tenant's name.

Property owners can provide tenants with a copy of the water bill so tenants can make payments on the owner’s behalf. Alternatively, property owners may pay the City directly and recover the cost from tenants either through a lump-sum reimbursement or by incorporating a monthly flat-rate amount into the rent.