Initial reaction was positive from Battlefords Chamber of Commerce directors to the city’s plans to impose a special mill rate on a new subclass of “vacant commercial buildings.”
Mayor Ryan Bater and several other city officials and councillors, including city manager Jim Puffalt and director of finance David Gillan, met chamber directors at their monthly board meeting on Tuesday to share details of that proposal.
A bylaw has already received first reading at city council the previous week. That bylaw calls for a special mill rate for commercial buildings that do not have a utility connection or a business license since 2015.
The buildings targeted by the bylaw provisions are ones located along the key commercial corridor from 100th Street through Railway Avenue, including in the downtown area.
In general, the directors made clear they thought the proposal was a long time coming. A few directors went so far as to offer congratulations to the city for offering this proposal.
“This is a fantastic initiative,” said Chamber director Jim Lafreniere. “I think it’s great we’re doing something with the derelict buildings in town.”
What Chamber directors seemed most interested in was whether such a mill rate would achieve its objective: to reduce the amount of vacant buildings in the city.
Officials were asked what the actual tax impact would be on the owners of the vacant buildings.
It was explained the mill rate for these vacant buildings to be set at twice the commercial mill rate. But the amount of the tax that property owners would have to pay will vary, depending on the size of their assessment or their location in the city.
As one example, officials were asked what the impact might be on the former Shell station on 100th Street that has stood abandoned for years. Gillan responded that property might see municipal portion of taxes rise from $3,000-4,000 to $7,000-$8,000.
Bater reiterated the goal of what was being proposed: “to return those buildings to the inventory of viable commercial property in the city, to re-enter those properties into the market, and the result is those buildings having viable business in them and being part of the business community here in the Battlefords.”
Still, there was worry expressed at the meeting that the special mill rate on vacant buildings might prove too big a disincentive for businesses looking to rent a property, or cause additional problems for developers who took on building renovation projects but ran into problems.
In response, Bater and city officials pointed out several times at the meeting that the special mill rate was being introduced in tandem with an incentive program that is being brought in as part of the wider downtown revitalization effort that has launched this year.
Details had not yet been made public at the time of the Chamber meeting, but city officials indicated the aim of those incentives would be to help spur on rehabilitation of these vacant buildings and bring them back up to standard.
“We want people to do something with their properties,” Gillan said.
There was some sentiment expressed at the meeting for the city to go even further. Some directors pointed to other vacant commercial buildings located outside the key commercial corridor areas.
Gillan indicated that for now, if there is a service connection, these property owners will be sent a letter explaining they will have to pay the flat charges and UPAR charges on their utility bill. That will help a little bit, he said.
The next step is for the issue to come back to council for bylaw second reading, scheduled for Monday night, June 26.
It was also expected the Chamber might provide its own formal written response to the bylaw at that meeting as well.
