The newly elected Town of Bashaw council learned about an unusual way the Government of Alberta approaches paying property taxes that it owes. The discussion was held at the Nov. 19 regular meeting of council.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Theresa Fuller presented councillors with an item that traditionally appears on their agenda around this time of year: “Grants in place of taxes, request to write off.”

Fuller began her memo by noting, “The province used to pay the full amount of taxes on their provincially owned buildings. The term they use for these payments is ‘grants in place of taxes.’

“The provincial building is an example of a provincially owned building. Twenty-Eighteen was the last year they paid the ‘grant in place of taxes’ in full.

“Every year subsequently they request we invoice for the full amount and they pay a portion of it. Within the budget we plan for the unpaid portion as an expense.

“The full balance owing is $16,896.68. We are not certain how much the province will pay. They typically pay in March or sometimes as late as Dec.”

The CAO noted that outstanding property taxes are monitored by the Government of Alberta which has been known to take municipalities to task for unpaid property taxes, apparently even including property taxes unpaid by the Government of Alberta itself.

“If a portion is not written off as uncollected taxes, it increases the Town’s percentage of uncollected taxes,” stated Fuller’s memo. “This is a benchmark that the province monitors.”

As councillors discussed the issue they mused whether this affects other municipalities as well, including cities such as Edmonton that host many Government of Alberta properties.

The CAO recommended councillors write-off a certain amount of the Government of Alberta’s tax bill to the Town of Bashaw. “The administration is requesting to write off the budgeted expense of $7,510.66,” stated Fuller’s report. “This is what was budgeted to be written off on this account.”

Councillors unanimously passed a resolution to do so.