Horsemen’s Club can’t get any relief
Club doesn’t receive welcomed news from the county on its back taxes
BIBLE HILL - A .500 record on the track would be a great career for any horse and driver in the harness racing world.
But a .500 record for Truro Horsemen’s Club personnel in recent appeals to the Municipality of the County of Colchester regarding taxes is not so great.
That was the sentiment shared by club president Sara Hamilton and vice-president Tammy Mackay after council voted 8-4 during its February committee meeting not to forgive back taxes owed by the club from 2019 (approximately $7,300).
That decision comes following a positive vote for the club last April, in terms of being granted tax-exempt status going forward. They had originally applied for the exemption in 2019, but were turned down.
Both Mackay and Hamilton used the words “disappointing” and “frustrating” in talking about taxes not being forgiven, especially with the club facing financial difficulties the last two years while dealing with COVID.
Mackay also said it was quite a process to get to the point of being accepted as tax-exempt. She talked about the trials and tribulation in recovering documentation Hamilton finally secured, which established the club as a not-for-profit entity.
Colchester County Mayor Christine Blair explained that being a not-for-profit doesn’t guarantee an organization will be declared tax-exempt and that in both cases (2019 and 2021), council was following Municipal Government Act (MGA) guidelines.”
“This is not about them being a not-for-profit, this is about what we’re allowed to do as a municipal government under the MGA,” Blair said. “The MGA tells us what we can do for granting tax exemptions and it clearly states that no exemption can be granted unless the organization provides services council might, otherwise, have to provide. Two years ago, the decision was based upon determining the services would not otherwise be provided by the municipality, so we would not grant the exemption.”
Blair said the discussion last April revisited the question and council, with three dissenting votes, came to a different conclusion.
“This time, the discussion talked about the not-forprofit status, the services they provide and if they didn’t provide those services would we, as a municipality, be expected to provide the services. It talked about the value of the organization in the community, what the Village of Bible Hill does, are memberships required, and so on. We looked at the whole picture.”
“Now they do a huge number of things in the community,” Blair said. “They do benefits for people, events there like birthday parties, anniversary parties, things of that nature.”
She said events like those were also a revenue stream for the club, which dried up during COVID.
“Now you can’t do much of anything with COVID; you can’t have the gatherings … that’s a reality,” Blair said.
As part of its discussion, council talked about government grants they would encourage the club to apply for to help their financial situation.
VILLAGE ADDITION
Adding to the situation is that while the club might get a break on taxes going forward from the county, that doesn’t include taxes from the Village of Bible Hill.
Mackay recently reached out to village commission officials with the same requests made to the county.
In his response to a letter from Mackay, Village clerk and treasurer Mitchell Bell said there is, “no current (or known former) policy or bylaw of the Village of Bible Hill which offers property tax reduction or exemption to not-for-profit organizations or any other category of resident or property with the exception of the Day Care Commercial Tax Reduction Bylaw.”
Bell, in the response he also provided to the Saltwire Network, goes on to say taxes have been levied against the club (zoned commercial) as they would any commercial property.
“Not-for-profit or otherwise, with the exception of day-care facilities licensed under the Day Care Act.”
Along with the money owed to the county, and current and past owed to the village, the club is facing a tax bill of $11,489.