Okanagan Boys and Girls Club receives tax exemption

By Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star Published: October 21, 2012 1:00 AM
Depending on whether they get their assessment changed, the Okanagan Boys and Girls Club are getting a tax break from the Township of Spallumcheen. The township passed its 2013 permissive tax exemption bylaw which will exempt the Okanagan Boys and Girls Club to the extent of $500,000. Their current assessment value is $1.1 million based on a Class 6 Business Other assessment from the B.C. Assessment Authority. “If nothing changed for 2013, they would pay taxes on $600,000,” said Spallumcheen acting administrator and chief financial officer Brian Freeman-Marsh. “They are trying to get, No. 1, the tax type changed to Class 1 (residential) and Class 9 (farm), which is what it was, I believe, in 2009, and they’re trying to reduce the value.” The O’Keefe Ranch also received exemption on almost all of its properties, save for the restaurant. Other Spallumcheen organizations receiving full permissive tax exemptions for 2013 are the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which also operates the North Okanagan Junior Academy, the Monastery of the Carmel of St. Joseph, Caravan Farm Theatre and Hullcar and Deep Creek Hall Society.