Kindersley council approves two tax enforcement actions
By Stu Salkeld
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Your West Central Voice
KINDERSLEY– The Town of Kindersley council approved two actions linked to unpaid property taxes. The decisions were made at the July 27 regular meeting of council.
The items were presented by Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Marty Baroni. The first item had a bit of urgency to it, noted the CAO.
Baroni’s report stated councillors were being asked to authorize the CAO to advertise six properties under the Tax Enforcement Act legislation due to unpaid property tax debts. The staff report listed the properties as Lot 3 Block 2 Plan G776 Ext 0, Lot 3 Block 5 Plan G9 Ext 0, Lot 4 and 5 Block 5 Plan G9 Ext 0, Lot 12 Block 2 Plan G9 Ext 0, Lot 21 Block 43 Plan 79S42101 Ext 0 and Lot 5 Block 3 Plan G9 Ext 0.
During his verbal presentation Baroni noted he was asking for authorization to advertise the lots so he could schedule the ads to run about mid-August, which would run for about a month. Afterwards, he said councillors should expect to see tenders for those lots at a meeting in September.
Readers should note typically a municipality takes possession of a parcel for an unpaid property tax debt, offers the parcel for sale for at least market value and if the lot sells, covers the unpaid tax debt out of the proceeds. Any revenue left over from the sale over and above the tax debt is paid to the parcel’s original owner.
Councillors unanimously approved advertising the six lots as advised. The second item related to tax enforcement involved liens that were placed on 16 parcels with unpaid property tax debts. Baroni stated during his verbal presentation that according to the Tax Enforcement Act after a lien is placed by the Town of Kindersley a six-month period must pass before the municipality can do anything over the properties.
Baroni reported none of the debts had been paid and the town could now proceed under the tax enforcement legislation if town council approved.
Councillors unanimously approved proceeding with the tax enforcement process for the 16 properties presented in the meeting.
Next up on the agenda was a proposed road maintenance agreement between the Town of Kindersley and R.M. of Kindersley, presented by Director of Infrastructure and Development Chad Levitt.
Levitt explained this agreement applied to the grid road along the west side of SW16-29-23 W3M and involved the R.M. performing maintenance while the town would pay $2,000 per year for this service.
Levitt stated that R.M. graders leave town in that area and it’s much easier for them to do the work as they’re leaving town rather than the town’s graders to travel over there.
Councillors had no concerns about the proposed agreement and unanimously approved it.
The CAO presented councillors with the monthly financial report. Baroni observed as of July 27 about 50 per cent of the year had passed. He pointed out some details of the report need to be explained, such as airport fees that are pre-billed and the fact the RCMP doesn’t bill the Town of Kindersley until July or August. Councillors unanimously accepted the July financial report.