All of the public comment made at the October 9 council meeting related to the issue of permissive tax exemption, specifically to the decision to grant Camp Bow-Isle a 60 per cent exemption rather than the historical 100 per cent the camp has enjoyed for many years. The discussion about permissive tax exemption policy and the step to reduce the exemptions for Camp Bow-Isle as well as Rivendell was made by council at its September 17 meeting.
The first speaker on Tuesday morning was Jon Heath, the director of the BC Camping and Recreation Guild for Christian Scientists, also known as Camp Bow-Isle. "We are seeking a solution that will benefit everyone," he said. "We would like to have you understand that we are part of a network of non-profit organizations that serve this community. These groups provide services that cannot be replaced, and if you would try to replace them, it would be cost prohibitive. They flourish though donations and the hard work of countless members of the community."
Heath pointed out that Camp Bow-Isle is looking back at 52 years of being exempt from paying property tax and acknowledged council's challenge of reviewing applications for tax exceptions. "You have to look at the merit of the organization and try to decide who is exempt," he said, adding that he believes that council has always granted tax exemptions to all organizations that applied. "This is first time that council decided that two organizations should not be exempt," he added. "In the past years, we were always contacted about the decision, this year, we didn't hear back and it caught us off guard. When we called, we found out that the first reading [of the bylaw] had already taken place."
Heath stated that the cost for Camp Bow-Isle, were the tax exemption kept at 60 per cent, would be in the neighbourhood of $15,000 to $17,000 - a substantial budget item, ranking right behind staff and food costs. "For us, that will be huge," he said, adding that he sees this as a dangerous precedent. "If you tax the charities, you get the ball rolling and where will it end? Will the elderly get preference over children and will recreation will get preference over art?"
Heath added that Camp Bow-Isle has recently worked together with the Bowen Island Community School, in addition to existing partnerships with the Island Pacific School and the Island Discovery Learning Centre. "Especially in recent years, we have brought in as many people as we can from Bowen Island outside the Christian Science community. We look forward to being part of Bowen Island's non-profits that serve that community. I hope you help us to do that but if you tax us to the tune of $15,000, you find yourself damaging the non-profits of Bowen Island."
Councillor Wolfgang Duntz said that the decision to carefully assess tax exemptions came from the necessity to look closely at municipal finances. "For us, getting $15,000 less in taxes means half a per cent increase for general tax payers," he said. "The municipality has to balance its books, our financial situation is not desperate but it's tight." And while Duntz agrees that non-profit organization provide tremendous value, he believes that being overly generous with tax exemptions will place a larger burden on the island's taxpayers. "I'm aware of many families who struggle financially," he said.
Duntz suggested a better system to gauge tax exemption eligibility. "We have to establish criteria that bring fairness and transparency to it," he said. "We have to make sure that the system of taxation is fair and establish an unquestionable system of merit to evaluate tax exception against service provided to the community." Duntz suggested referring the draft policy to the Finance Review Task Force.
CAO Kathy Lalonde offered an apology from staff for not notifying Camp Bow-Isle of the first reading of the bylaw. Deputy treasurer Kristen Watson has looked at several municipalities and how much tax exemption they grant. "I did some analysis of direct financial assistance and have found that we are a very generous community," she summed up. "In 2011, our direct contribution equaled 5.6 per cent of our tax levy, I haven't found a community with an equally high percentage." Watson added that it is likely that the island's non profit organizations are dependent on that level of assistance. CFO Karen Blow said that the decision to pull back on permissive tax exemptions was initiated by the previous council and recalled that the Seymour Bay Foundation representing the Bowen Island Golf Association had been removed from the list of tax exemptions last year but were granted 100 per cent this year.
Mayor Jack Adelaar made the point that by granting a 100 per cent tax exemption, Bowen taxpayers will be shouldered with the organization's portion of taxes to the Islands Trust and Metro Vancouver.
After a lengthy discussion, council decided to rescind the first reading of the tax exemption bylaw and grant 100 per cent tax exemption to the Camp Bow-Isle as well as the Rivendell Foundation partly due to the fact that the organizations had not been properly notified. The tax exemption policy will be referred to the Finance Review Task Force.
