In a special Friday morning meeting, Regina City Council decided not to forgive some of the property tax owed on the Capital Pointe site.
Smith Street Lands threatened to pull out of the sale if the tax exemption wasn’t given, citing the move wouldn’t make financial sense.
Mayor Sandra Masters says by denying the request, the city avoided setting a dangerous precedent.
“I think the idea of precedence which frankly doesn’t exist, we have provided tax-exemptions on a go-forward basis, there are grants that can be applied for,” said Masters. “I believe that it is wise of council to take the advice of our legal counsel, I think at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to.”
When asked if she was worried about the developers following through on their threat to withdraw their offer, Masters said the city can’t concern itself with that.
“Ideally, we would love the property to be sold, we would love to collect the costs attributable back to the city for the taxpayers,” said Masters. “But we’re not in that game, we’re in the game of collecting property taxes on properties.”
Masters says, despite only being Mayor for a few weeks, it’s frustrating to see the Capital Pointe saga continue.
“You have no idea how much I would like to close the Capital Pointe saga, and I’ve only been at the job for a few weeks,” said Masters. “We would absolutely love that property to be developed, it’s not what we’re in the business of, we’re in the business of collecting property taxes. Anything that brings it to an end is a welcome thing.”
The judicial sale of Capital Pointe must be closed by December 22nd, the developers have until then to decide whether or not to move forward with the sale.
