ATHABASCA — Town of Athabasca councillors are hoping a potential new incentive will help the community attract more housing development for current and future Athabascans.
Coun. Edie Yuill put forward a request for decision (RFD) in the Aug. 13 council agenda asking councillors to direct administration to research and prepare a tax incentive for new residential construction.
“Other municipalities are offering residential tax incentives for new construction projects,” wrote Yuill in the RFD. “I believe it only makes sense to get serious about attracting new construction projects in Athabasca.”
Her idea received unanimous support from her counterparts around the table, but not before discussion about the details council would like administration to include in a first draft.
Under the recently passed — and at times controversial — Bill 20, Albertan communities were granted the ability to institute tax incentives “for the purpose of encouraging residential development and the provision of housing … for the general benefit of the municipalities.”
The town passed a non-residential tax incentive for new commercial developments in April 2023, a decision that has resulted in at least one new project in town — Melewka Structures and Design’s Dairy Queen, slated to be completed in September. Total number of new commercial projects since last April were not available before publication.
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Councillors referred to the Village of Boyle’s recent tax incentive bylaw, passed in May of this year, as well as the Town of Westlock’s policy on the subject, which earned its council’s approval in April, as to what thresholds to include.
“We’ve discussed this so many times in the past and we’ve just been anxiously awaiting for that bill to pass,” said CAO Rachel Ramey.
She said administration would rescind the existing non-residential incentive bylaw in order to house both tax incentives in one document and include an assessment value threshold of $200,000 or greater for new residential projects.
Exemption values for three years will be consistent with Boyle’s bylaw, set at 100 per cent exemption in year one, dropping down to 75 per cent and 50 per cent for years two and three, respectively.
