Hosted by one of OMTRA’s Board Members, Lauren Birch, this is going to be a fun and interactive municipal exchange to talk about all things tax billing!

With most 2026 municipal budget processes now complete, this is the perfect time to share and learn how others handle tax billing-related matters. This session will delve into topics such as:

• Distribution of bills – do you mail out your bills? Email? Or some other way? How do you respond to challenges with mailouts and are you concerned about the rising costs of postage?
• Communications – what do you include in your tax bill mailouts? Do you include a buck slip with special info on other topics? How do you break out your tax amounts on the bill for residents?
• Payment instalment plans and dates – does your municipality offer multiple payment plans? What do those look like?
• Payment options – how can residents and businesses pay their property tax bills… do you offer credit card options?
• Interest and late charges – how much do you charge for late payments? What happens if someone doesn’t pay their bills on time?

We hope that you will be able to share your experiences and learn from others. While we only have an hour together, we will use this session to inspire future in-depth discussion on specific topics.

While the session is focused on tax bills, we encourage all OMTRA members to attend as there will be lots of lessons to be applied across other revenue types…. Such as communication, payment methods, interest options and instalment approaches… all of which can be considered regardless of the revenue collected!

About the Moderator:

Lauren Birch is the Director, Financial Strategy & Policy, at the City of Toronto, within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer. In her role, Lauren’s responsible for providing strategic financial advice and leadership for corporate initiatives, including implementation of Toronto’s Long-Term Financial Plan; informing property tax policy; considering new funding tools; supporting budget strategy; and leading Toronto’s Comprehensive Development Charges Review. Lauren joined the City of Toronto in 2017 in Financial Planning. Prior to that, she worked at the Ontario Cabinet Office. She has a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Toronto and was a Graduate Fellow with the Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance.

She currently also serves on OMTRA’s Board as the Director of Communications & Membership.