Agriculture federation fears loss of property

BY AARON BESWICK TRURO BUREAU

ANTIGONISH — Dustin Swinkels shook his head in frustration Friday as he explained that his organization has run out of op­tions.

“It never should of come to this," the president of the Anti­gonish-Guysborough Federation of Agriculture said, referring to a tax dispute between the Town of Antigonish and Antigonish County over a piece of property the federation rents.

“We’ve been trying for the past nine years to get this resolved.

This is a property that benefits both the residents of the town and county, and should never have been listed as taxable."

On Tuesday, the federation will appear before a judge in Anti­gonish seeking a judicial review of a decision by Antigonish town council to sell the property, which is owned by the county, at a tax sale on Oct. 3 unless the county pays $330,000 in back taxes by then.

The county rents the property, located within town boundaries, to the federation for $1 a year.

The rental agreement is a 30-year, renewable lease.

The site includes barns, a fenced area and canteen and is used for the annual exhibition, a weekly farmers market, livestock shows, 4-H activities and horse­manship events.

It is the only exhibition prop­erty in the province that is listed by as being taxable.

Mayor Carl Chisholm said Friday that town council’s hands are tied. He said it had to proceed with a tax sale because Municipal Affairs Minister John MacDonell sent them a letter in February directing them to sell any property on which property taxes hadn’t been for three years. In addition, Chisholm said the Municipal Government Act does­n’t allow the town to write off taxes unless it is determined they can’t be collected.

Meanwhile, Owen McCarron, Antigonish County’s deputy warden, said the county would have paid a tax bill if it had prop­erly reflected the town’s costs associated with the property.

That cost would have been much lower than the $330,000 the town is seeking, McCarron said.

The mayor and deputy warden referred to the situation as “un­fortunate" and said the dispute is throwing a wrench into efforts to build a constructive relationship between the two municipalities.

So what created the impasse?

In 2003, the Property Valuation Services Corp. ruled that the exhibition grounds property was taxable at a commercial rate because the property was being rented by a third party.

However, it noted that if the property had been used for municipal purposes or if it had been owned by the federation, it would have been listed as non­taxable.

To have that ruling overturned, the county would have had to appeal it to the Nova Scotia Su­preme Court at that time, said Lloyd MacLeod, senior commer­cial manager for the non-profit corporation tasked with assess­ing taxes in the province.

Or the two municipalities could have agreed to have the local MLA present a private member’s bill that would have exempted the property from municipal taxes.

While past and present MLAs have been willing to table such a bill, that didn’t happen back then because there was the possibility the two municipalities would amalgamate, McCarron said.

The amalgamation became contentious and the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board threw the issue out, leaving the two municipalities in place.

Meanwhile, because the prop­erty was listed as commercial taxable, the town levied an annu­al tax bill, and the county refused to pay taxes on a property it didn’t consider taxable.

In April, the county offered to pay about $56,000 to cover the tax bill, but that offer was rejec­ted by the town. On Tuesday, McCarron said the county would have been willing to pay more if the town hadn’t proceeded with the tax sale.

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