Residents at the new Lakeshore condo were blown away by their first property tax bills, with the vice-president of the condo association approaching town council at its July 25 meeting to ask for either a break in their taxes or for services.
“This is a new thing for the Town of St. Paul and this is a new thing for us,” condo owner Don Imeson noted in a phone interview following the meeting, noting residents of the new condo Lakeshore Heights just got their first property tax bills.
As it turns out, he said residents found they were paying more in taxes than other St. Paul home owners, per square foot, despite not getting services like garbage pick-up, snow removal, and not having sidewalks.
“There’s no one that pays more taxes than we do,” he said, adding of the town, “They’ve done nothing for us. They’ve dropped the ball in working with the people that are living in the town and paying the taxes.”
Imeson noted that condo residents paid about $3,000 in property taxes, with additional taxes charged on land and outbuildings. He explained the “footprint” of the condos means higher density and more taxes coming in overall, as he estimated that six houses could fit on the same space as two condos, which together will bring in a total estimated $150,000 in taxes.
“It’s a jackpot for a town . . . There’s nothing better for the town than these condos. It’s a cash cow,” he told council last Monday night. “It’s a win-win-win.”
To attract more of this type of development, however, the town needs to make these properties more attractive, similar to how the town created a tax incentive bylaw to attract businesses downtown, he said.
Imeson told council the residents are not looking to get out of paying taxes, but rather “to get some services or to get a small reduction (on taxes) like every other town.”
He provided a comparison from St. Paul to an Edmonton condominium, pointing out that in Edmonton, he’s taxed 0.8 per cent of the value of the property, whereas in St. Paul, he’s taxed at one per cent of the value.
Mayor and council listened to Imeson’s points, and asked if he could give some comparisons to what other towns of similar sizes offered to its residents of condos. Since Imeson didn’t have those comparisons available, council asked for more time so that administration could do some research and come back to the issue, with Mayor Andersen noting that as Imeson said, this was a new area for the town, and asked for his patience while town administration did more research.
