Tax bylaw to encourage investment in Castlegar
By Kyra Hoggan
Castlegar city council has unanimously passed a bylaw that will give major industry taxpayers a break when investing in local enterprise.
Monday’s regular meeting saw council pass a tax exemption bylaw which allows major industry (in Castlegar, this would specifically refer to Celgar and Interfor) to apply for tax exemption when investing $500,000 or more in their local facilities. At the direction of council, city CAO John Malcolm and city director of financial services Andre Buss were the principal architects of the bylaw, which Malcolm said is intended to encourage companies like Celgar to funnel money into local operations without being penalized for so doing. “When we first started thinking about it, Celgar was contemplating a significant investment, which would enhance the economic sustainability and future longevity of the Castlegar mill,” he said, adding that such an investment would also, under previous calculations, occasion a spike in the company’s municipal tax bill. “(A tax exemption) is an increasingly common mechanism used by municipalities to encourage investment within their communities.” He said the city has no plans as yet to apply similar bylaws to other sectors, but the idea hasn’t been ruled out – he said this is simply a first and necessary step in meeting the city’s obligations as laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding undertaken with Celgar last year. City councillor Russ Hearne said he’d certainly be open to considering similar tax incentives for the commercial sector as well. “We recognize that business taxes in Castlegar are a little lopsided, and I think we’d look at anything that would keep our city attractive to business at any level,” he said.
