WESTLOCK – Two local non-profit have joined the list of 181 properties exempt from paying property taxes in the Town of Westlock.
At their Dec. 14 meeting, town councillors unanimously approved a pair of Community Organization Property Tax Exemption Regulation (COPTER) applications from the Hope Resource Centre (HRC) and Westlock Independence Network (WIN). The HRC occupies a portion of 10148 - 107 Street, which has an assessed value of $60,000, while WIN counts four properties with an assessed value of $1,050,740: 9539 - 99A Ave., 9723 - 99 Street, 10024 - 104 Street and 10164 - 107 Street. Administration told council that WIN has previously been approved four or five times for the exemption, while this is the first year for the HRC.
Non-profits can annually apply for the exemption, spelled out in the Municipal Government Act and Community Organizations Property Tax Exemption Regulation. Mayor Ralph Leriger said that in the past they had discussed enacting a bylaw to deal with the process, although finance director Julia Sepploa said council ultimately decides whether to grant an exemption.
“The purpose of having them come back is to make sure that they still are in the property, particularly when they lease. I guess that why it’s still annual — we’ve had a couple of people move out and move in,” Seppola explained.
Added Coun. John Shoemaker: “We had a church in the last year sell and it’s now a restaurant so I think it’s nice to do it annually just in case there are some changes.”
CAO Simone Wiley said they don’t actively seek out non-profits to let them know they can apply. There are currently 181 properties in Westlock with a total assessed value of $181,476,570 that fall under COPTER. In fact, that total is nearly a quarter (23.24 per cent) of the total assessed value ($780,730,260) of all properties in Westlock.
“It’s not something that we have been actively doing. There are organizations out that just know they’re exempt. But there are others, like Hope Resource Centre by way of their landlord, found out about the program and were able to capitalize on that,” said Wiley.
Leriger asked admin to peruse the COPTER list and see if there are any groups that would fit the criteria — Wiley noted that while many of the bigger ones are already aware, they may be able to help a few of the smaller organizations.
“Lots of times some of these community organizations don’t have the capacity that some of the larger ones do. Sometimes we’ve had applications show up late and had to deal with them. We certainly don’t want to be handcuffing organizations that do important work in the community,” said Leriger. “I’m not thinking there will be a flood of applications.”
Added Coun. Murtaza Jamaly: “Just simply extending the courtesy to those that have been granted COPTER in the past to say, ‘Hey this is an annual process and you need to renew your application.’”
