By Thia James

POLL: PA Chamber releases tax policy recommendations

Oct 2, 2013 | 6:37 AM

The Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce has released its recommendations for making the city’s tax policy more competitive, in light of the property tax increases that went into effect earlier this year.

In June, the chamber began its call for a more “equitable and competitive” tax policy in the weeks after business owners began to receive their 2013 property tax bills. Some commercial property tax owners saw their bills triple this year from the year before.

As a result of the “insights” from business owners that the chamber received, it promised to release a final set of recommendations aimed at improving the city’s tax policy earlier this year.

The tax increase came as a result of Prince Albert city council’s decision to increase the base tax for residential and commercial property taxpayers to fund the $4 million dollar roadways re-capping program. The 2013 property re-assessments also had an effect.

The report pointed to negative effects coming as a result of the tax increases, including increased difficulty to attract and keep businesses to the city, and the potential for job losses and a weaker labour market.

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And the chamber’s report warns the city that other cities in the Prairie region have more “attractive” tax policies, and that Prince Albert could lose business investment to these other locations.

The recommendations include suggestions for making the tax policy more competitive, including implementing alternate ways to taxes to generate revenue for the city – such as user fees—as well as only generating what’s needed to fund the city’s resources.

The chamber’s recommendations also call on the city to better communicate with business owners, and to have “regular and continued communications” with the chamber. It also recommends that the City of Prince Albert to “support and advocate for a timely re-assessment process that is completed a minimum of every two years instead of the current four-year cycle.”

The chamber’s CEO Merle Lacert said he’s “reserving comment” on the report until he has presented it to council at the Oct. 15 meeting.

To read the full report, click here.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames