Hilda victims getting taxes back

County votes to refund 2017 taxes on all properties and lands affected by the Oct. 17 wildfires

Cypress County council voted Tuesday to have county staff calculate for the purposes of refund all 2017 county taxes collected on properties and agricultural lands negatively impacted by the Hilda wildfire of Oct. 17.

The motion passed unanimously by council read:

“Council move to direct administration to calculate exact refunds of 2017 municipal taxes for all properties directly impacted by the Hilda area fire of October 17 and 18, 2017 and bring back to a future meeting.”

The tax refund was one of nine requests made by a delegation of Hilda-area representatives who met with council members at the previous public meeting on Nov. 21. Other requests included:

The county declare the fire a disaster, review its policy on issuing fire permits, provide potential interest-free loans to help with rebuilding, foster awareness of topsoil in ditches, blade undeveloped road allowances as fire guards, allow local graders to help with fire breaks, conduct local water testing in the disaster zone and spearhead a disaster recovery program.

The tax relief offered by the county to those in the fire zone was something councillors felt they could do to help immediately. Council members however, felt more information was needed on the other eight requests. Council passed a separate motion for county staff to look into each of them and draft a report on their feasibility and potential cost.

Reeve Richard Oster said the county would look at each of the requests in turn once the report was ready for council’s consideration.

“We told them we would be there in any way we could,” said Oster. “The tax refund was something we could definitely do quickly. There were eight other suggestions, and we will be exploring all of them.”

Oster said whatever levers the county can pull to help, it will.

“They are our ratepayers,” he stated. “They went through an extreme fire condition, and we want to be there for them for as much as we can.”

NEWS FILE PHOTO Front step of what used to be the Kirschenman home near Hilda. Cypress County councillors have voted to refund property taxes for residents affected by the wildfires on Oct. 17.