By Glenn Hicks

P.A. Chamber calls to protect mom and pop shops following tax report

Dec 12, 2017 | 1:00 PM

The Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce is urging the city to significantly lower the commercial tax rate to improve local business following a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

The report, which examined the best and worst property tax gaps in Saskatchewan cities, showed Prince Albert is home to the greatest disparity between residential and commercial tax rates.

On average, across the province, commercial owners pay 2.21 times what residential owners pay in tax. Locally, business owners are on the hook for 3.86 times the tab of residents, before education taxes are factored in.

Chamber CEO Larry Fladager said the city may be pro-commerce but made note recent commercial growth stemmed heavily from big box stores over small businesses.

“Big box stores [are] able to absorb costs because they have such high margins,” he said. “That’s not the case when you’re considering a new business start-up from young or local entrepreneurs.

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“We are simply saying [things] are getting worse instead of better and we need to see some significant change in that ratio to keep businesses investing and growing in this community.”

While the city made incremental improvements over the years, the CEO said “asking local businesses to pay more tax than everywhere else year after year when the economy has slowed…is outrageous.”

Municipal offices, he said, are not doing enough to find cost savings in the city and this was having a negative effect on business.

“Businesses expect the city to make a clear statement about what their direction is with regards to this ratio on how businesses will be taxed, that’s for sure.”

While admitting the city has perhaps not done enough for the commercial sector, Mayor Greg Dionne promised to tackle the issue head-on in the very near future.

“When I got in, I decided I was going to attack residential, [as] that effects the majority of residents. Over the last three years, in my first term, we have been very successful,” he said. “I have told council that is enough, and we are going to focus on commercial [tax rates].”

He reiterated the majority of growth in the city has sprouted from the commercial sector fuelled heavily by a big box boom. But for Dionne, the tax issue boiled down to protecting the mom-and-pop shops.

Tax bills, he said, “need to be fair and equal, but should they be equal to residential, no, but they shouldn’t be as high the way they are now.”

“Next year our main focus will be on attacking commercial,” he added. “You need to have the ma and pa and you need to have people invested in the community…They are all locals and they support the locals.”

Tackling commercial taxes could be on the table as early as January, according to the mayor. After the budget is approved on Dec. 18, Dionne said tax tools to collect city revenues will be debated, and remedying the commercial complications could begin. 

Dionne said when you have “big budgets like we have, you can find some savings” and explained adopting the city’s green energy program will be a cost benefit in the future with things like more efficient vehicles. 

— With files from Tyler Marr

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr