The sound system in Gibsons municipal hall wasn’t quite loud enough to reach the more than 50 citizens who filled the chamber and foyer Sept. 10 as council addressed permissive property tax exemptions. (They’ll need to raise taxes to build a bigger hall, joked the mayor.)
Many of the audience members were from Gibsons churches that are seeing their property tax exemptions slashed to 75 per cent as council re-examines its exemption strategy.
Back in July, council made decisions to cut down its permissive exemptions significantly and encourage affected organizations to engage in housing projects.
Letters from Christ the King Community Church, Christian Life Assembly and Gibsons Curling Club (which is seeing its exemption set at 50 per cent) asked council to reconsider their exemptions given their respective contributions to the community, but to no avail.
“As a council I think we've all been faced with difficult decisions, and this is certainly one of them,” said Coun. David Croal. The exemption expectation change has been in the works for two years, and organizations were notified council was looking to address housing and using permissive tax credits as a mechanism to encourage such development, Croal noted.
“The response from the community members who have potentially developable land, until today, has been very quiet,” he said.
“I’ve lived here for 45 years, and quite frankly, it breaks my heart to know there are people in this community living in cars, living in tents in the woods, when there's raw land that could provide housing,” said Croal. “We need to look after one another. If we don't, nobody else will.”
Croal also mentioned that Sunshine Coast housing coordinator Kelly Foley of Cover the Coast has received funding to work with non-profits and churches to potentially come up with housing solutions.
Coun. Annemarie De Andrade pointed to the matter of tax equity. “When we exempt some institutions from taxes, the taxpayers are paying these taxes,” she said. “Yeah we have wealthy individuals in this town, but there's a lot of seniors that are struggling to pay their taxes as well.”
Incoming rises in police costs and aging infrastructure will put further pressure on taxes, she added.
“If there's land available or programs that churches can do that not only address a certain group of individuals but the main needs of the town –– we need everybody to come together,” said De Andrade.
In 2024, permissive tax exemptions––for charities, non-profits, philanthropic organizations, places of worship, athletic services and licensed care facilities––totalled $247,649 in Gibsons. The Town of Gibsons portion of that (the rest were taxes Gibsons collected for other authorities), was $95,807.
The question of property tax exemptions has been raised in other communities around B.C., noted Coun. Christi Thompson. “It's something none of us have taken lightly.”
At a recent local government association conference there was a motion on the table close to passing that would have asked the province to do away with statutory exemptions, said Coun. Stafford Lumley. (Gibsons is deciding about permissive exemptions, statutory exemptions are built into provincial or federal law.) That isn’t what council is suggesting, but it’s a discussion that’s out there, shared Lumley. As they were making these decisions, “we were really cognizant on on trying to be as fair as we could with everybody,” he said.
Council passed three readings of its permissive tax exemption bylaw for 2025. The next step is adoption.
It is worth adding, the curling club noted that contrary to what was stated at a previous council meeting –– and reported in the paper –– they have no limit on their membership.
