City of Powell River council has given first three readings for six permissive tax exemption bylaws, which would give municipal tax relief to 79 applications for the 2022 taxation year.
At the October 7 city council meeting, councillor George Doubt, said the bylaws came after council made a recommendation to cap the amount of dollars in the 2022 budget on permissive tax exemptions to $400,000. Doubt said that figure was smaller than if council had decided to fund all applications at the 100 per cent level. That figure would have been $430,109.
“The result is that all of the applications have been given, and instead of the 100 per cent tax exemption they’ve requested, it has been reduced by 4.9 per cent,” said Doubt. “We are granting 95.1 per cent of the applications for the year 2022, which, overall, will decrease the burden on the other taxpayers for those taxation exemptions.
According to a report from city chief financial officer Adam Langenmaier, the 79 permissive tax exemptions that have been applied for in the 2022 tax year is an increase of eight applications from 2021.
Langenmaier stated that permissive tax exemptions are not granted automatically; they must be adopted and implemented by October 31 of each year through bylaw. He further stated that permissive tax exemptions are completely at the discretion of city council.
“Since the amount of taxation approved each year by council is the amount that must be collected to balance the municipal budget, it is also the case that any taxation exemption granted to specific taxpayers results in a shift of these taxes onto remaining taxpayers who have not been exempted,” stated Langenmaier.
Recommendations
Under bylaw 2671, the recommendation is the following organizations receive permissive tax exemptions:
Alano Club of Powell River; British Columbia Association of Seventh Day Adventists; Carlson Community Club; Cranberry Community Hall Association; inclusion Powell River; Life Cycle Housing Society; Lift Community Services of qathet Society; Nature Trust of British Columbia; Powell River Academy of Music; Powell River Bon Accueil Society; Powell River Council for Arts and Culture; Powell River Fine Arts Association; Scouts Canada, Scout Properties; Star Dusters Hall Society; Timberlane Barracks Sponsor Committee; Powell River Villa Soccer Club; Powell River Historical Museum and Archives Association; Powell River Italian Community Club; Powell River Kiwanis Housing Society; Powell River Lawn Bowling Club; Powell River Miklat Recovery House Society; Powell River Otago Rugby Football Club; Powell River Search and Rescue Society; Powell River Action Centre (doing business as Powell River Food Bank); Royal Canadian Legion Branch 164; Senior Citizen Association of BC, Branch 49, Powell River; Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA); Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver; Tourism Powell River; and Westview Flying Club; Powell River Sport and Fitness Society.
Under bylaw 2672, the recommendation is for Powell River Brain Injury Society.
Bylaw 2673 covers the Far Off Broadway Theatre Company Society and Powell River Sunset Homes Society.
Under bylaw 2674 is Powell River Curling Club, and bylaw 2675, the Source Club Society.
Bylaw 2676 covers: Governing Council of the Salvation Army British Columbia Division; Trustees of the Powell Lake Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses; British Columbia Association of Seventh Day Adventists; Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada; Westview Baptist Church; Evangel Pentecostal Church; Trustees of the Congregation of the Powell River United Church; The Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese; Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver; Guru Arjan Dev Sikh Society of Powell River; President of Lethbridge Stake (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints); and Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster (St. David and St. Paul Anglican Church).
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