BUSINESS TAX EXEMPTION WILL PROCEED TO UBCM AGAIN.

This is the motion that was introduced by City Council and ENDORSED by UBCM last year. the Province response was:

Response: Ministry of Community Services
The property tax exemptions for Class 4, Industrial, 5, Light Industrial and 6, Business, improvements were prescribed by regulation in 1984 in response to a severe downturn in the general economy of the Province of British Columbia (Province). The exemptions were intended to provide assistance to small business enterprises throughout the Province. Although not all areas of the Province share in the current economic wellbeing, the present economic outlook is extremely promising for the Province as a whole. There is no need to provide such assistance province wide at this time.

Amendments enacted to Section 226 of the Community Charter provide municipalities with the opportunity to provide for revitalization tax exemptions for any revitalization objectives, including economic revitalization. These provisions will allow a municipality to target the kinds of economic activities and investment which will be in the best interests of the community.
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A detailed posting on the recent history of this proposal can be found at: BUSINESS TAX EXEMPTION to be pushed by Council ?
The Net effect on a business can be seen in the table on the left.

Hopefully the City of Vernon will elicit the written support of the Local Chamber of Commerce and their related counterparts in other cities. The written and public support of the DVA for the first time would also be helpful in making the Province wake up and smell the roses.

An articulate spokesman who can understand this resolution and who can intellectually persuade the government must be drafted to go to UBCM.

This motion to proceed was introduced and passed unanimously at Council last Monday as well as a resolution that the Province reexamine its entire property assessment system. Lets get it adopted by the Province in the last year of this Council. It could be one of the few enduring legacies of this Mayor and Council.