The site of the new Columbia Shuswap Regional District office to be built on Harbourfront Drive continues to be a thorn in the side of Salmon Arm Mayor Nancy Cooper.
Cooper says she was “ticked off” that the regional district sped up a land transfer deal to escape paying $18,000 in taxes to Salmon Arm.
The issue arose when CSRD Financial Services manager Peter Jarman, asked directors to approve an amendment to the 2013 Five Year Financial Plan bylaw, which they had unanimously approved at the Nov. 14 board meeting.
At that time, the master agreement between CSRD and MMH Developments Ltd. included a land purchase in January 2014.
“However, upon review, it was realized that in order to receive the Local Government Property Tax Exemption for 2014, the land title transfer would need to be registered with the Land Title Office by Dec. 31,” wrote Jarman in his report to the board.
Jarman told directors, CSRD staff believed directors would be willing to approve the amendment after the fact.
Cooper, who had not been present at the Nov. CSRD board meeting, reiterated that she had heard complaints from many people, including some from Area C South Shuswap
“For me, that is some of the best property and should be used by a lot of people, not government offices,” she said, pointing out that had the property been developed by a commercial venture, the City of Salmon Arm would be able to collect the taxes. “This is not the best community plan to use lakefront property.”
CSRD chair David Raven reminded Cooper that the motion in front of directors was simply to approve the bylaw amendment – “not the process that has been going on for the past 18 months.”
City of Salmon Arm rep Debbie Cannon asked for clarification on the property taxes before offering her support for the location of the new building.
“It was prudent the CSRD caught it and I’ll support it because that property was available for other businesses,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of talk at this table and I’ll totally support it.”
Jarman noted that the two waterfront properties the regional district owns will be sold, effectively ending their tax exempt status.
“We have a very complex agreement with the proponent and with the greatest deal of respect to Mayor Cooper, I thought these issues were dealt with at a meeting in Canoe,” added chief administrative officer Charles Hamilton, referring to the Sept. 23 meeting of Salmon Arm Council, in Canoe. “The report I received was that Salmon Arm council viewed it very favourably. The other thing keep in mind this was this was the low-cost proposal… This was not entirely CSRD’s decision, we followed bylaws etc.”
The question was put to the board and the amendment subsequently passed, with only Cooper opposed.
Following the meeting, the mayor again expressed her annoyance at the rushed land purchase in an email.
“Taxes must be paid,” she wrote. “So instead of spreading the $18,000 over the entire CSRD region for 2014, that $18,000 will be paid by Salmon Arm tax payers.
But Raven noted that having second thoughts at this point in the process would have legal implications.
“We are under contractual obligations to proceed and this has been going on for two years, and all of the directors have had time for input,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we have to go with the decision of the entire board. We have not dismissed or not listened to the input from any director. We, as a board, chose the best option presented to us by the development community.”