It was a rough go for a proposed business tax incentive at North Battleford鈥檚 city council meeting Monday.
A proposed municipal business tax Incentive aimed at investment attraction ran into trouble. The policy was to apply to businesses that are legally incorporated entities involved in one or more of the following industries: renewable energy, manufacturing, oil and gas, mineral processing or agriculture. It would be similar to an incentive that had been in place before.
But Ccouncillor Kelli Hawtin quickly indicated she would not vote in favour, citing concerns that the policy presented had not spelled out enough parameters for evaluating applications. In particular, a scoring matrix for evaluating applications had not been included in what was presented to council Monday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 too open-ended,鈥� Hawtin said.
It was decided to table the resolution on the business tax incentive to June 28 for further clarification.
A proposed heritage tax incentive policy saw much smoother sailing. City council had been looking at a policy to encourage the revitalization and restoration of heritage properties in North Battleford, by providing tax-based incentives to owners of eligible property.
The policy presented Monday had been amended considerably after a long discussion previously in Planning Committee. Among the criteria: the property must be located in North Battleford and be 60 years of age or older and all taxes and charges related to the property must be current. The incentive would run two years for projects of $250,000 to $499,000 and three years for over $500,000.
The heritage tax incentive policy was approved easily by council Monday.
