It may have more than a dozen universities and post-secondary institutions behind it, but the University of Saskatchewan’s Coldwater Laboratory located in Canmore did not have credentials to meet the requirements for property tax exemptions for institutions in Alberta.
But thanks to a motion by Canmore town council, laboratory director John Pomeroy won’t have to worry about paying the annual tax bill – both provincial education requisition and municipal property taxes – anymore.
Manager of financial services Katherine Van Keimpema recommended council approve a request from Pomeroy, who presented the request in 2016.
While the Coldwater Laboratory, which is affiliated with multiple hydrology programs at universities in Canada, asked for a pass on municipal taxes, Van Keimpema said a review of the legislation and discussions with the province revealed that council, through how its motion was worded, could also have the exemption applied to provincial property taxes.
Mayor John Borrowman spoke in favour of the motion, noting that there has been discussion in Canmore over the years about encouraging research or other post-secondary institutions to establish campuses in the community “as part of diversifying our economy.
“I think some sort of tax exemption is not a bad tool for a municipality to encourage that sort of growth,” he said. “As well, I am familiar to some extent with the work the lab will be doing here and I think it brings value not only to the people living outside Canmore, but to the town of Canmore as well.”
Due to the fact Pomeroy and the lab are researching water-related issues in this geographic region, the area of study covers what happened in this area in June 2013. Borrowman said the work could inform what the municipality is doing in trying to understand the hazards and risks of steep mountain creeks and designing appropriate mitigations.
Councillor Ed Russell, however, did not share the mayor’s optimism.
“This is a welcome addition to the community, there is no question, but this tax exemption comes at the expense of our local businesses and people here have to pick up the tab for that,” he said.
The municipal tax exemption is only applied to 92 per cent of the commercial property leased by the University program, and it expires in 2019 – the same year as the lease. If the taxes were to be exempted in 2016 they would equal a total of approximately $10,000 – of which $7,657 is municipal taxes and $3,270 the education requisition.
Coun. Joanna McCallum shared concerns with Russell, saying she wasn’t sure how the laboratory would result in economic spinoffs (like employment) that would justify the cost that the rest of the business community “is going to have to absorb.”
McCallum put forward a successful motion that changed the original motion – and would see the laboratory pay two housing-related requisitions that are on Canmore property taxes – one for Perpetually Affordable Housing and the other for seniors housing – totalling $584 last year.
Coun. Vi Sandford recused herself from the deliberation and decision as a member of her family is employed with the research lab.
The Coldwater Laboratory was located at a Barrier Lake facility in Kananaskis Country before locating space in Canmore. It also was awarded federal funding out of $900 million from the Canada first Research Excellence Fund, which applies to 13 universities in Canada.
The U of S will receive $77.8 million of those funds and it helps support the work of Pomeroy, who is associate director of the Global Water Futures: Solutions to Water Threats in an Era of Global Change initiative. It is a seven-year program and the largest university led water research program to be funded in the world.
