Commercial tax rebate policy passed

A 2021 commercial tax rebate policy has been passed by Maple Creek Town Council after a forensic line-by-line review of the budget.
It means eligible commercially assessed properties will receive a rebate on their 2021 taxes.
Town administration will be mailing out rebate cheques. No action is required by eligible properties.
The policy sets out four guidelines on eligibility:
A. Commercially Assessed Properties Eligible
Any commercially assessed properties that would have over a $500 increase from their 2020 municipal taxes, based on a 0.85 mill rate factor reduction of their 2021 municipal taxes;
B. Current taxes as of December 31, 2020
A commercially assessed property must be current with their municipal taxes as of December 31, 2020 to receive a commercial tax rebate;
C. Already receiving Tax Abatements
Any commercially assessed property already receiving a 100 per cent tax abatement for the 2021 taxation year will not be eligible to receive a 2021 commercial tax rebate.
Any commercially assessed property that is receiving a partial tax abatement for the 2021 taxation year will be eligible to receive a 2021 commercial tax rebate at a prorated return; and
D. Tax Enforcement
Any commercially assessed properties currently in tax enforcement with the Town of Maple Creek will not be eligible for the 2021 commercial tax rebate.
At its meeting on Tuesday, Council passed a motion to give commercially assessed properties a 2021 rebate. Michelle McKenzie, the Mayor of Maple Creek, read out a statement, pledging improved public engagement.
“The Town of Maple Creek has been reviewing the budget and cutting back on spending, without cutting any major services supplied by the town.
“We have also received our 2020 Audited Financial Report where we were notified that we have over budgeted our obligation for the school taxes.
“Advisory Services for the Province was also contacted to see what options we had to provide an abatement to the commercial taxes affected by the large increase to the mill rate factor.
“Nothing in The Act (274 -10) allows a ‘municipality to cancel, reduce, refund, or defer taxes for an entire class of property’.
“We had to therefore look at a way to address most of the properties without it being the total ‘class’ of commercial properties.
“The Town of Maple Creek has proposed a policy to address the 2021 commercial taxes that complies with what we are allowed to through the Municipalities Act.
“Council recognizes the impact this has had on the entire community and is committed to review all the tax tools and the impact they have on each property class so that we can work towards a more reasonable distribution of taxes in the future.
“Further Council is committed to improving community engagement and welcome suggestions from the public.
“We look forward to serving you and building a better future for the great community of Maple Creek.”
Earlier, Councillors spoke about the review process, saying it had been a learning experience that would stand them in good stead for setting the 2022 budget.
Councillor Len Barkman believed the rebate policy would be a big help to businesses.
“We want our businesses here to stay in town, we want to support our businesses, we want to do everything we can to help our businesses,” he said.
Councillor Cara Teichroeb said that Council had held many meetings and discussions to ensure that taxes did cover the budget.
“It has been quite a process,” agreed Councillor Betty Abbott. “I must say, a big learning process. We have all learned a lot.”
She hoped the the 2020 budget process will be a lot smoother.
“We will be looking at 2022 with a well-educated lens”.
Abbott pointed out that no significant services had been cut during the review of the 2021 budget.
Councillor Al Fournier wished to thank everybody for their patience during the process.
“It has been a long haul, to say the least,” he said.
He said he appreciated the input from businesses during meetings.
“We will be better equipped for 2022,” he said.
Councillor Tina Cresswell echoed thanks to Council, staff, and businesses for their patience.
She said that the public needed to understand that under the Municipalities Act Council could not rebate taxes to an entire class of property.
“We had to define a portion of that class, and that’s where the $500 comes from,” she said.
Councillor Cresswell believed that Council was now in a stronger position for 2022 budget discussions
McKenzie also expressed thanks for people’s patience over the 2021 tax review.
She said Council had to ensure major services would remain intact, and that public safety was not compromised.
“We look forward to moving into the 2022 budget with eyes wide open and understanding what we need to do in our job, and looking at those tax tools and the impact they have on each classification of each property for all our residents in our community.”
The tax rebate policy follows months of controversy since Town Council announced an increase in taxes.
Although the uniform mill rate was kept at 13, the the mill rate factors were changed.
Residential went up from 0.607 to 0.609, while multi-residential (manors, duplexes, apartment blocks etc.) increased from 2.13 to 2.3. The other factors were: commercial, 3 (from 2.13); and agriculture, 2.3 (from 2.13).
Meanwhile, the base tax for all property classes remained at $1,050.
Amid widespread concern in the business community about the commercial mill rate factor, around 100 people attended a Chamber of Commerce “Let’s Talk Taxes” forum at the Armoury. It was attended by Mayor and Council.
John Andreas, owner of Maple Plumbing & Heating, told the meeting that he believed the Council had lost its way.
I think we have got a rookie Council and a rookie management team. I’m going to chalk it up to that because for me to chalk it down to anything else is something I don’t want to go to.”
A few weeks later, businesses voiced their concern again at a public meeting organized by the Town, Murray Chev general manager Ken Magnus revealed that his business had been hit by a 65 per cent increase.
It emerged that other businesses, including Richardson Pioneer elevator, had also been hit hard.
After Tuesday’s Council meeting, McKenzie told the News-Times that she believed the 2021 commercial tax rebate policy would be applicable to the majority of businesses in the community.
She said the amount of rebates would vary, depending on how much businesses’ taxes went up in 2021.
“Some could get $1,000 back, some could get $2,000 back, some might only get $500 back,” she said. “It will be very varied.”
McKenzie said she hoped the policy would be very well received by the business community.
She added that Council had learned the importance of engaging the public before passing a budget.
Asked how much the rebates in total amounted to, McKenzie did not have an exact figure.
To free up money for rebates, she said, the Town had not done street repairs. Also the Town received a substantial amount of money because it had over-budgeted for school taxes.

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