Sylvan Lake’s Town Council passed a motion to allow the collection of supplementary taxes for 2019.
According to the council package a supplementary tax allows for the collection of property taxes on improvements completed or “substantially completed” in the year.
“This applies to construction started and completed during the current year as well as construction which was only partially completed as of Dec. 31, 2018,” the council package states.
The work done in 2018 will be included in the tax assessment sent out to residents in May, the remaining assessment will be taxed through the supplementary tax at the end of the current year.
“If a supplementary tax bylaw was not in place, the municipality would have to wait until the following year, 2020, to ‘pick up’ that assessment and tax it.”
In order to include as many construction completions as possible, the supplementary tax will be calculated and mailed out to corresponding residents in late November, the package says.
The Town expects to see roughly $40,000 in revenue from the supplementary tax in 2019. In 2018 a total of $42,141 was collected through the supplementary tax.
This is not a new process for Sylvan Lake, as a supplementary tax bylaw has been in place for many years. Builders in the community are familiar with the bylaw and the process, according to the council package.
Economic Development
Economic Development Officer Vicki Kurz says in the first quarter of 2019 she has worked with the Chamber of Commerce to draft a business satisfaction survey.
“Over the last five years we have done different sectors and areas within the community… this is the next and final step that we will take, which will be sent out to all the businesses in Sylvan Lake with a licence,” said Kurz.
Kurz says the plan is to have the survey go out to businesses in Sylvan Lake in early June.
She continued to say there will be a forum coming up for investors and business.
“We have been in Vancouver meeting with several different groups of investors … we have some framework in place for negotiating with investors, and incentives that can be offered to them,” Kurz said.
Special Events
Sean Durkin, recreation and culture manager, presented an update on special events in Sylvan Lake over the first quarter.
In the first few months of 2019 a total of seven events were held by the Town.
These events include two brand new events, Kites on Ice and Paint the Ice in March, and the Torch Relay for the Winter Games in February.
Town Council said they were very impressed with the work by Town staff in making these a possibility.
“We are trying to bring more events to Town outside of the summer months, and to have seven events in the first quarter, that is about as far away from summer as you can get,” said Coun. Megan Chernoff Hanson.
