Council approved an agreement between the Fort Frances Curling Club and the Town of Fort Frances on Monday night that will see the club paying off its outstanding taxes by 2014.
As it stands, the curling club owes the town about $74,000. But under the following terms of the agreement, that amount would be paid off in a series of steps.
Firstly, the club’s 2006 charity rebate in the amount of $9,670.45 will be applied against the outstanding taxes.
As well, a grant from the town equal to $33,712—the estimated combined value of the 2003, 2004, and 2005 charitable rebates the club would have received had it applied for them—will be applied against the arrears.
(During budget discussions earlier this year, council talked about being told by club members that when they had approached the town in the past, they were told erroneously they probably would only get a very small tax reduction if they applied, and as such, the club did not apply for a tax rebate in recent years).
The curling club also will make equal annual payments in the amount of $6,154.46 for five-consecutive years for the balance owing to the town in the amount of $30,772.30.
These extra payments, however, will not begin until July 31, 2010 in order to give the club time to pay off its mortgage.
The last of these payments is due July 31, 2014.
Penalty and interests on outstanding taxes will be frozen as of Jan. 29, 2007.
And the curling club will pay all taxes levied, and penalty and interest incurred, within the current 2007 taxation year and subsequent taxation years.
The agreement does not preclude the payment of the balance in full, at any time, by the curling club. Such payment would terminate the agreement.
In the event the curling club were to default any payments, the amount owing in default will be subject to interest in accordance with maximum interest charges allowable under the Municipal Act.
After working at a solution to its tax woes for years, Fort Frances Curling Club president Maureen Thomson said Tuesday night she was pleased to see the club and town able to work out an agreement.
“This council, I just have to say, really did listen to us. They came forward and we started working together,” she noted.
“We started this in 2000, then we left it and restarted it in 2004,” she added. “It’s been dragging on for a long time. So, it’s nice to say that it’s basically, at this point in time, settled.
“This new council really did have our best interests at heart,” Thomson remarked.
Thomson also said taxes should a little easier to pay in the near future given the curling club property has been reassessed by the Municipal Property Assessment Corp., and its annual taxes reduced from $28,000 to about $23,000.
As well, the club will apply for a charitable rebate each and every year from now on. Under current assessment, this rebate equals about $9,000.
But Thomson added the club also is going to keep lobbying MPAC to further lower its taxes, especially in light of the fact there’s an inequity between what the local curling club is paying compared to some other ones.
“There’s not a fair assessment of curling clubs across Canada,” Thomson noted. “That’s where we feel we have to settle with our own municipality because they’re going by what MPAC assesses the building at.
“I talked to Danny Lamoureux from the Ottawa Curling Club, and they’re in downtown Ottawa, in a prime location, and paying, like, $5,000. There’s something wrong with that picture,” she added.
“He said, ‘I know where you are. You’re up in the swampland. You’re not prime real estate.’
“So, we’ve gone back to MPAC. What will happen, time will tell. It will take quite a while probably,” admitted Thomson.
“In an ideal world, we’d love to be like one of the recreation facilities owned by the town and not pay taxes. But in the real world, we do have a commercial portion of the building and we legally have to pay some for that.
“But it’s still too high.”
Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft noted Monday that he’d like to congratulate the volunteers at the curling club for their hard work in keeping the recreational facility running, and for coming forward with a plan to “achieve a compromise” with the town to pay its back taxes.
Council on Monday night approved the agreement prepared by the Administration and Finance division, and authorized that a bylaw be prepared to be voted on at a future meeting.
Fort Frances Times
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