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Council inches closer to tax incentive decision

Aug 28, 2018 | 12:41 PM

When it comes to attracting new and updated builds in Meadow Lake, mayor and council are hoping some incentives will encourage people to live and work in the city. While they haven’t made final decision on the matter, they’ve come one step closer.

Council had extensive discussion on incentives for residential, commercial, and industrial spaces at their regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 27. They originally brought up the topic in April, and took time since to reflect on it since.  

The ultimate purpose of the discussion is to give city administration guidance on how to draft a proposed bylaw, which will be brought to the council table at the next meeting on Sept. 10.

The current idea is to give a three-year incentive to updated and infill residential spaces at 100, 75 and 50 per cent respectively.

For commercial and industrial, the majority of council agreed to have a similar tax break incentive structure (100, 75, 50 per cent) for all commercial and industrial. To maximize interest in the downtown core, they proposed a five-year model, where the incentive would be 100, 75, 50, 25, 25 per cents respectively over the period.

“The reason to put an emphasis on the downtown is that lots of communities have struggled with their downtown being filled,” City manager Diana Burton said. “We did receive soft feedback that if we do something for all commercial it should be similar to the downtown model, but less.”

“I want to see the City of Meadow Lake having the reputation that we’re business friendly,” Coun. Glen Winkler said.  

The final decision on the matter is expected to be made at the Sept. 24 meeting, and the incentives would then come in to effect for those looking to build or expand after Jan. 1, 2019.

 

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath