Metro to probe cap on port taxes
North Vancouver City Mayor Darrell Mussatto, who chairs Metro's port cities committee, says his municipality gets much less property tax from port operators due to the cap imposed by the provincial government two years ago.
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Updated: August 31, 2009 4:59 PM
Area mayors say local homeowners and businesses are being forced to pay more property tax because local port terminals get preferential treatment in the form of a cap on their taxes.
Metro Vancouver is hiring a two-person commission to probe the issue and make recommendations.
North Vancouver City Mayor Darrell Mussatto, who chairs Metro's port cities committee, says his municipality gets much less property tax from port operators due to the cap imposed by the provincial government two years ago.
"Ports get different treatment than other business," he said.
Victoria has been paying a bridging grant to make up much of the difference but cities fear the grants won't continue indefinitely.
And inflation means cities face a widening gap each year between their costs and what they get from port users and the top-up grants.
"We've had to raise other taxes to make up for it," Mussatto said.
He said the District of North Vancouver, Port Moody, Delta and New Westminster are all also significantly affected by the tax cap, and another 10 local port cities are impacted to a lesser extent.
The Municipal Port Property Taxation Fairness Commission will investigate the issue and report with findings and recommendations by March.
Heading the commission are finance and taxation policy experts Dr. Enid Slack, of the University of Toronto, and Peter Adams, a Victoria-based graduate of the London School of Economics.
They're to determine whether Metro Vancouver ports are treated differently than those elsewhere, such as in California or Washington State.
"We have no pre-set notion of what we want to see," Mussatto said.
The province-imposed cap chopped port property taxes back to 2002 levels and they're to remain frozen until 2018.
The legislation also gives a discounted rate of 18 per cent below the regular port property taxes for new port facilities to encourage expansion.
Port Metro Vancouver vice-president of infrastructure development Tom Corsie said the authority will fully cooperate with Metro Vancouver and its commission.
"From the port's perspective we're always concerned about the competitiveness of the port, of the gateway," Corsie said.
"I'm not sure I know where there is unfairness. But if there is, it would be good if they uncover it."
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