This overview is provided to the taxpayers of Powell River to inform them of a bylaw that ended up costing the city (in essence you if you pay city taxes) over $3 million in the 2023 taxation year [“Paper Excellence still qualifies for City of Powell River tax exemption,” June 2022].
The previous city council, prior to October of 2022, enacted a revitalization tax bylaw that gave significant tax breaks to Paper Excellence for a three-year period, culminating in the final year of 2023. This bylaw was to provide a financial break to the company to revitalize the mill to protect jobs and help ensure the overall economy, assisted by this tax break, to provide economic benefit to the city.
In December of 2021, CBC news published an article that stated that “Paper Excellence is indefinitely closing its Powell River paper mill, impacting over 200 workers at the mill.”
This should have been a red flag to the current council, and in fact, former mayor Dave Formosa expressed shock at the closing, and also that the mill had been put up for sale without the city being informed.
Yet what happened to the tax break? It continued for 2023. The response from the current administration is that it was just going to let the term of the bylaw run out and in 2024 there would be no tax break.
When I continued to follow up on why the bylaw was not being enforced, I was told the bylaw had not been written properly, and legally there was nothing the city could do. While I recognize mistakes happen, this mistake cost the taxpayers of this community over $3 million. Now the city has been faced with a huge tax shortfall, and taxpayers are faced with increased taxes and the possibility of some service cuts.
Surely elected officials and staff have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers to ensure tax breaks of this magnitude are written, monitored and enforced appropriately. This did not happen.
The province has been able to get Paper Excellence to return over $4 million they gave this company to help protect jobs at their Crofton mill, which did not materialize. At the very least, the city should formally ask Paper Excellence to return these tax dollars that were not used for the intended purpose. I doubt it will happen.
Four of the current councillors were on council when this bylaw was enacted.
Allan Drummond,
Powell River
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