A number of Rossland organizations were given a tax break, while others were denied their application for the Permissive Tax Exemption at council last month.
There was good news for the Rossland Museum and Discovery Centre as council agreed to extend their tax exempt term for not one but five years.
Coun. Chris Bowman made the case for the museum, saying; “It holds all our archives for the city and requires major capital to be open at all times, has very low reserves, and anything more they get they rely on grants. We have an excellent staff there, so I’m going to make the motion to have them five years at 100 per cent and possibly 10 if someone is inclined to support that.”
Council settled on five years to give each successive council a chance to review their permissive exemption. These exemptions provide property tax relief for groups that serve the broader community and have limited resources to raise revenue on their own.
Exemptions were also approved for Rossland Light Opera Players, the Royal Canadian Legion, the Rossland Seniors Hall, Seven Summits Centre for Learning, the Scouts, and Rossland Search and Rescue.
The Lower Columbia Affordable Housing Society received an exemption for three of the four units on First Ave, and for one year on the new 37-unit project in the Midtown Transition area. Council voted unanimously to review the society’s application next year when construction is completed.
Council also agreed to give a new applicant, the Rossland Arts Society, an exemption. The Arts Society recently purchased a heritage building, the Drill Hall, and are undertaking an ambitious project that will transform the hall into a community arts centre.
Council also had to make several difficult decisions. Although groups may provide a valuable service to the community, if the organization generates significant revenue or competes with other businesses their application for a tax exemption can be denied.
The United and Catholic churches have statutory exemptions for the land their buildings are on, but, can be taxed on the surrounding property. Council deemed their external properties eligible for taxation.
“I fully support having the land around the church be taxed,” said Coun. Janice Nightingale. “Clearly from their financials, they can afford to pay that. It’s not a huge amount of money but it’s extra money that goes into not only our municipal tax revenues but it goes to help the whole community, which is apparently what they try to do, and it will also help to support our schools, hospitals, and our regional services.”
Tax exemptions were also denied the Health Auxiliary Thrift Store and Golden Bear Daycare.
Council requested more information from Golden City Manor and will consider their application at the next regular meeting.
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