Street light fees questioned by condominium developer

A condominium developer is concerned about how people are being charged for street lights.

Allen Johnson, a developer with Pictou County Condominium Corporation, which has condos near the Abercrombie Golf Course, told councillors this week that the county is charging an unfair levy for streetlights.

Currently, he said, each unit owner owns the space inside their individual unit. Each unit owner has one share in the condo corporation, so collectively as shareholders in the corporation, they own all of the land and the buildings.

Johnson said the Nova Scotia Condominium Act stipulates that property taxes for condo developments are paid by each unit owner based on the assessed value of the space inside the unit, so even though the condo corporation owns all of the land and buildings, it pays no property tax.

He said the corporation has paid about $15,000 in street light charges since the development was constructed.

However, he questioned, if there was a rental unit such as an apartment building that had one owner, why it would only be charged one fee for streets lights rather than every individual renter being charged separate fees.

“I realize that there may not be a way to change the way tax is applied to an isolated group such as this, but there has to be a way to make this fair,” he said.