BARRHEAD—Edmonton's Catholic Archdiocese must prove that it plans to use Lac La Nonne-lakeside Camp Encounter property as a not-for-profit camp in future years or potentially face losing its property-exempt taxes.
On Jan. 7, County of Barrhead councillors approved the municipality's Community Organization Property Tax Exemption Regulation (COPTER) program list of charities and not-for-profit organizations accepting administration's recommendations to exempt 30 of the 38 tax tax rolls for the maximum three-year period allowed by provincial legislation.
Most of the tax rolls were connected with community organizations that owned and maintained community halls, and they were renewals of those already on previous COPTER lists.
COPTER, created in 1997 following an MLA review committee, sets out the criteria and conditions for municipalities to grant property exemptions to not-for-profit organizations.
COPTER criteria include that the property must be owned or leased by a non-profit organization, that 60 per cent of the time a property is in use, it must be for charitable or community benefit (i.e. not-for-profit), that its use must be unrestricted 70 per cent of the time it is used, and that the property must not be restricted based on race, culture, ethnic origin, religious belief, property ownership, unreasonable fees or other membership requirements.
Council also accepted the administration's recommendation to grant a partial COPTER exemption to the Barrhead Golf and Recreation Area for the golf course, the trail system surrounding the course, and its campground and removed the Beecliffe Community Association from the list as the land was being actively farmed.
Finance director Tamara Molzahn added that the golf course restaurant, pro shop, and adjacent campground, also run by the association, did not qualify under COPTER as they were for-profit operations.
She also noted that the list included a church and a cemetery exempted from property taxes under the Alberta Municipal Government Act (MGA).
County manager Debbie Oyarzun said that the municipality took a proactive role for the first time and sent letters to the holders of 38 tax rolls they believed met the COPTER criteria, asking them to submit their application for tax exemption status by Sept. 30.
"We are doing a bit of housecleaning to ensure everyone is still compliant," she said.
Deputy reeve Marvin Schatz questioned whether the municipality should grant tax exemption status to those organizations that missed the application deadline.
"There were several organizations that missed the deadline, but administration recommended that council accept their applications because we were the ones that pushed this out, and it is a new process for them," Molzahn replied. "For future applications, council may want to adhere to the application deadline more strictly."
Coun. Walter Preugschas noted that most community hall organizations rent out their facilities for events such as weddings, asking whether these types of events would be classified as for-profit.
Molzahn said usually not.
"Even though they have to pay a small fee, it is not considered for profit because it is not being restricted because anyone can rent the facility," she said.
Molzahn suggested that the council might want to examine the Edmonton Catholic Archdiocese's five tax rolls, in which Camp Encounter is located.
She said only the camp would be eligible for tax exemption status under COPTER.
"One of the parcels of the property has a church and cemetery, which are [exempt from property taxes] under the MGA.
However, Molzahn said the municipality's assessor has determined that the caretaker's residence, including an administration office, is taxable.
As for the camp itself, she said they are still determining whether it meets COPTER eligibility criteria and suggested the council might want to select a one- or two-year exemption.
"Per the [archdiocese's application], they are evaluating what they plan to do with the property," Molzahn said.
Reeve Doug Drozd agreed.
"The camp is sitting vacant, doing nothing, and it has been for quite some time. If they are going to do something with it, yes, they are eligible, so I hate to pull the rug out from them and get rid of their tax exemption status right off the bat," he said. "That is over a million in lakefront property, and administration needs to start having these types of conversations with the archdiocese to ensure it is or not being taxed appropriately."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
