Property Tax Exemption – Victoria Highland Games Association (Staff Report)

TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL COUNCIL REPORT

TO: Council
DATE: December 15, 2020
FROM: D. Christenson, Director of Finance
MEETING DATE: December 15, 2020

Property Tax Exemption – Victoria Highland Games Association

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT Council receive the report dated December 15, 2020 from the Director of Finance titled “Property Tax Exemption – Victoria Highland Games Association”.

PURPOSE OF REPORT:

To inform Council of a change in tax exempt status for the properties at 2709 Shoreline Drive and 1801 Admirals Road.

BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION:

Until May 2020, the properties 1801 Admirals Road, comprising the Craigflower Manor, and 2709 Shoreline Drive, comprising the caretaker’s house, were exempt from property taxes because they are owned by the Province. Effective May 13, 2020, BC Assessment changed the taxable status on both properties and registered the Victoria Highland Games Association (VHGA) as the occupier.

Not-for-profit organizations are not automatically exempt from property taxes, and as the occupier, the VHGA became liable for property taxes on the two subject properties as of May 2020. View Royal staff became aware of the change in taxable status when we received the supplementary tax assessment notice in November 2020. Staff issued supplementary tax notices totaling $21,982 to cover the May to December 2020 tax period. Of the total, general municipal taxes are $17,558. BC Assessment will issue the property assessment values for 2021 in January 2021 – therefore we are not yet able to estimate the 2021 full year property taxes for these properties.

At its November 20, 2018 meeting, Council passed the following resolution:

C-136-18 THAT the Town provide a letter to the Victoria Highland Games Association indicating

a) a willingness to partner through provision of a property tax exemption for the property at 1801 Admirals Road; and

b) that further partnering opportunities, such as fee waivers or reductions, will be considered in the future and pending the status of the Victoria Highland Games Association’s community centre project.

While it is clear that Council intended to consider a property tax exemption for the Craigflower Manor property, Council is somewhat constrained by legislation concerning the timing of such exemptions.

The Community Charter (section 224) provides Council the authority to extend property tax exemptions and indicates that a bylaw under this section does not apply to taxation in a calendar year unless it comes into force on or before October 31 in the preceding year. In other words, to be exempt from property taxes in 2020, a permissive exemption bylaw would have had to been adopted by Council on or before October 31, 2019. However, the lease tenure on which the exemption would be based didn’t come into effect until May of 2020. Furthermore, the October 31 deadline has past to affect an exemption for 2021 taxes as well. The draft Bylaw 1064 attached to this report seeks to affect an exemption starting in 2021, although by legislation it will only be effective starting in 2022.

Before Council can adopt a permissive exemption bylaw, View Royal must give public notice by advertising once each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper, identifying the property(ies) subject to the bylaw, describing the exemption, stating the number of years that the exemption may be provided and providing an estimate of the amount of taxes that would be imposed on the property if it were not exempt for the current and following two years.

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT Council receive the report dated December 15, 2020 from the Director of Finance titled “Property Tax Exemption – Victoria Highland Games Association”.

SUBMITTED BY:
D. Christenson, Director of Finance

REVIEWED BY:
K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer