The tax break program for the Oceanfront developer will continue, a decision the previous council took in September as part of a semi-annual review of the bylaw.
In January last year, a majority of the council decided to continue the tax exemptions for Oceanfront but also proposed to do a semi-annual review of the tax exemptions.
The council had earlier decided to discontinue a similar tax exemption program for downtown, but not for the Oceanfront, leaving a council divided on the issue.
Most recently, the district staff updated council on the Revitalizaton Tax Exemption (RTE) Bylaw in September.
“Council’s review did not impact the Oceanfront Revitalization Tax Exemption Bylaw,” said Rachel Boguski, communications coordinator of the district.
The bylaw is still in place, however as nothing has been built to date, there have been no tax exemptions provided between 2016 and 2018, she added.
Two years of the possible 10 years have therefore passed without tax exemptions, she noted.
Dave Colwell says
Amazing. I have many words to describe my feelings about this as I look around and see the massive development and profiteering going on around us and the expectation of tax increases growing proportionally for the home owners! By all means support the struggling small business owners but the rest??
Parm Sidhu says
Question for council, when the other Squmptons can get tax exemption???
Dave Colwell says
I think nobody who makes a profit in business should be completely exempt. It should be proportional, Every home owner has to pay some tax however small their property is. Too many extremely profitable businesses in this town get under the wire because too many decision makers have hidden vested interests. The “Conflict of Interest” barrier does not cut through this enough….Sadly, the ‘Way of the World’!