The Wood Buffalo Recovery Committee voted Wednesday night to recommend that council approve a series of measures that would provide property tax relief in varying degrees to all residents affected by the wildfire this spring.
The motion, put forward by committee member Marty Giles, would see one month’s relief for all residents because everyone was unable to access their homes or use municipal services for the month of May. In addition, all people prevented from accessing homes that are still standing would have a relief on their taxes for as long as they were banned from living in their homes because of the order from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
Further to that, anyone whose home was irreparably damaged in the fire would see further relief and would only pay taxes on the value of their lot until either they rebuild their home, sell the property, or until the end of 2016, whichever comes first.
Because of the Municipal Government Act council can’t make any rulings on what happens for the property taxes in 2017 because they haven’t been assessed yet. Residents whose homes were destroyed, though, will see some relief anyways in 2017 because the property will be assessed at its value as of July and December 2016.
Giles gave an example of someone living in Abasand who has insurance and chooses to rebuild.
“At least she knows she’s just paying taxes on a lot on her next year’s tax. She gets a year, let’s say she moves in (to her re-built home) January 1st, then she won’t be paying tax on her fully built house until the tax year comes again,” he said.
To think of it in reverse, my home was built in 2016. I moved in May 2. For 2016 I am paying taxes for the value of an empty lot because that’s what was present on the land in July and December of 2015. In 2017, I’ll pay taxes on the full value of my home and the lot.
“If that lady never wants to rebuild again, because that’s your right, for example in Saprae Creek (where Giles owns property lost in the fire) if I want to go out and build a big fire pit and never build my house again and own that lot, I have to pay taxes but I should have to pay tax on a fire pit and a lot, not the house we lost, that’s the basic problem,” he said.
His intention in submitting the motion Wednesday night, before some of the administrative kinks had been worked out, was to get a plan in place and start the process so that it could be approved faster for the residents who are waiting for an answer.
“We could have took another six days to have all the “i”s dotted and the “t”s crossed but the spirit of it had to get out there to do it. So, now it’s out there, now at least the public knows about it, they can give us feedback, maybe some more things have to happen but at least it got movement,” he said.
Administration cautioned that in order for the relief to be put in place it would have to develop a plan for rolling it out to the affected residents, whether it was through an application process or coming directly from the taxation and assessment department, which could take time.
Residents anticipating eligibility for the relief should wait for more information before making a payment if they are concerned about ability to pay. All penalties on taxes have been waived until December 31, 2016 to allow for some leeway for residents.
Council still has to approve the plan and it’s likely there will be debate and possible changes to what is being recommended to them.
Giles said he thinks there is a good likelihood council will approve the motion.
“I think it makes good sense and I think it’s a good judge of, for example, when we had our delegate get up, he was behind it, the votes on every amendment were supportive, unless they’re from Pluto, I don’t know. We just recommend what we think’s best for the community but I can’t see, especially with our councillors that are on here, but who knows,” he said.
The committee is also recommending council ask the province to waive the education portion of the property tax for the same residents who would get relief on their municipal taxes and seek to have the revenue impact of the relief at the municipal level covered by the province through disaster relief funding.
That would mean that even though the impact could a total loss in revenue for the municipality of $1.7 million for relief for one month for all residents and $656,000 for the relief for those with restricted access, the net revenue impact would actually be $0 if the province picks up the tab.
There is a precedent for the province covering this property tax relief as it did so in High River and Calgary in 2013 and in Slave Lake in 2011.
Below are the recommendations the WBRC approved sending to Council for its consideration and how each was approved:
- For all residences that were required to be evacuated due to the wildfire, cancellation of 1/12 of the tax, the base tax calculation amount.
-Approved 5-2 (Kim Jenkins and Mark Hodson against) - For residences that were not allowed to be reoccupied after general re-entry in the first week of June due to actions taken pursuant to the recommendations of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, cancellation of the base tax cancellation amount PLUS cancellation of an additional amount representing the prorated daily amount of the whole municipal portion of tax multiplied by the number of days commencing June 1, 2016 that the residence in question was not allowed to be re-occupied.
-Approved unanimously - For all residences that became uninhabitable because they were destroyed or irreparably damaged by the wildfire, cancellation of the base tax cancellation amount PLUS cancellation of an additional amount representing the prorated daily amount of the whole municipal portion of tax less that portion attributed to the value of the buildings multiplied by the number of days from June 1, 2016 until the first to occur of
a) completion of reconstruction of residence,
b) sale of the property to a new owner, or
c) the end of the calendar year 2016
-Approved unanimously - Request of the Government of Alberta to remove the education portion in the affected areas as laid out in 1, 2, and 3 above
-Approved unanimously - Apply for funding support from the Government of Alberta to offset the RMWB portion of taxes as outlaid in 1, 2, and 3
-Approved 6-1 (Chair Jeanette Bancarz against)
The recommendation will be brought to council at a later date when it resumes regular meetings after September 6.
