Council rejects giving builders, developers a tax break on vacant serviced lots
By Tim Kalinowski on March 10, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge city council has rejected a motion which would have created a separate sub class of taxation to provide local developers and builders with a 50 per cent tax break on vacant serviced lots.
Coun. Jeffrey Coffman introduced the motion for discussion during council on Tuesday following a public presentation by BILD Lethbridge and District executive officer, Bridget Mearns, at the Economic Standing Policy Committee on Feb. 24.
At the time, Mearns had suggested the change as a COVID relief measure for the local home construction industry.
If Coffman’s motion had been adopted, it would have meant vacant serviced lots would have paid a 50 per cent lower mill rate than those lots with houses on them for the next three years.
It also would have meant an est
imated $500,000 in lost tax revenue to the City which would have had to be made up by other residential ratepayers by a mill rate increase of 0.25 per cent, or by cost cuts elsewhere in the corporation.
This ultimately turned out to be the deal breaker for most councillors.
Councillors Blaine Hyggen, and Jeffrey Carlson, and Deputy Mayor Rob Miyashiro all reminded colleagues council had committed to a zero per cent tax increase for all residents for three years.
City council might also have voted to extend $500,000 from reserves without changing the mill rate, but that was not explicitly stated as the intent of Coffman’s motion, which was intended to eliminate the necessity of each vacant serviced lot owner having to come to city council individually to prove they needed a grant for tax relief.
The creation of a sub-class of taxation, Coffman felt, would ensure more equitable application throughout the City’s tax base for all owners of vacant serviced lots.
In the end city council defeated the motion by a vote of 8-1, with only Coffman voting in favour.
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