Halifax recommends against tax relief for businesses destroyed by wildfires

A Halifax councillor is not giving up on extending property tax relief to businesses destroyed by this spring’s wildfires — despite the view of municipal staff that commercial property tax concessions cannot be made due to provincial legislation.

A Halifax Regional Municipality report on the motion from Coun. Pam Lovelace says commercial property tax reductions are prohibited by the municipality’s charter. Staff also say a provision in the charter allowing a tax reduction for properties damaged by fire does not explicitly mention commercial properties. 

In August, a spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs said HRM could grant affected businesses tax relief without the province’s involvement. 

“Instead of actually getting to the source of the problem, which is the language of the Halifax charter, we’re left with debating whether or not legally the municipality actually has the right to do this,” Lovelace said. 

Lovelace said when council meets on Tuesday she will pursue an alternative motion to provide relief for destroyed businesses that did not have appropriate insurance. 

The report from staff also recommends against relief because commercial properties can purchase business interruption insurance. That type of policy could include property tax coverage — something not available for residential properties. 

“If a business says they have business interruption insurance, they would not be able to receive this relief,” Lovelace said. 

Terri Kollwitz, owner and operator of ForestKids Early Learning in Hammonds Plains, said tax relief would help the daycare rebuild. 

“We just didn’t have insurance. Who’s going to think that this disaster is going to happen?” she said. 

Kollwitz said ForestKids reopened about two months after the wildfires levelled the main building.

“We have our children in trailers which is costing us a lot of money,” she said. 

Kollwitz would like to receive relief to help cover around $4,000 in property taxes due on Oct 31. 

‘There’s no building there’

Moulding Warehouse, a neighbouring business, is being asked for over $9,000 in property taxes, according to co-owner Tammy MacKay. They lost their production facility during the wildfire that began in the area on May 28.

“Whether they charge it to me or the insurance, it’s wrong because there’s no building there,” MacKay said.

MacKay said her company has 12 months of business interruption insurance, but is still working through the process. 

“When the building is up, I’ll be back to paying taxes. But in the meantime, they shouldn’t be charging,” MacKay said.