ATHABASCA – Athabasca County councillors will have the opportunity to lend small businesses a hand during their Oct. 26 council meeting when they vote on a proposed bylaw that would reduce taxes.
During the Oct. 11 committee of the whole meeting, councillors voted 8-0 in favour of a motion to forward the proposed bylaw to the next regular county meeting — Coun. Gary Cromwell was absent from the vote.
“Most businesses in the county are going to be what you would classify as small businesses; there are some amazing success stories that we’re proud of in the region, but this tax rate bylaw is set up to give the smallest guys a little bit of a break,” said Athabasca County reeve Brian Hall. “It will make our county more competitive as we’re looking to contend (as a location) for these businesses to set up.”
The draft bylaw will apply to businesses with fewer than 25 full time employees across Canada; currently, Nicole Cherniwchan, director of corporate services for Athabasca County, said they weren’t tracking how many companies the bylaw affect.
“We don’t break the data down in that (way) to say if something is a large or a small business, so I can’t give a good estimate,” said Cherniwchan. “The (bylaw) is designed so the onus is on the business, so we wouldn’t be contacting anyone.”
In response to concerns over any additional administrative burdens, Cherniwchan said that, “Yes, it would take additional admin time, but I can’t give an estimate for how much.”
The Municipal Government Act (MGA) sets the 75 per cent rate as the lowest a municipality can go — Cherniwchan included a list of similar municipalities and their tax rates. Currently, Lac La Biche County and Westlock County have kept their small business rates the same as their regular non-residential rates, while Thorhild County and the M.D. of Opportunity used the 75 per cent mark seen in the draft bylaw. The Town of Athabasca has also kept rates the same, although it has passed a tax incentive bylaw for business development.
“Generally, the goal is to lessen the impact of tax rate adjustments to small businesses, and local business owners,” added Hall.
During the Sept. 19 committee of the whole meeting, councillors agreed a full-time employee be defined as an employee working 37.5 hours a week, and the number would be set at 25 —while the regulatory limit sets the maximum number at 50, councillors felt that 25 would be an appropriate balance, although they are open to feedback.
“We thought that this would cover a good amount of businesses to start,” said Hall. “This is something we can continue to tweak and modify as time goes on, and we’ll continue to seek feedback.”
