Starland writes off oilfield taxes, prepares for Bill 77

Written by ECA Review

Starland County council wrote off four different oilfield company accounts for a total of $608,936.94 to allow for application to Provincial Education Requisition Credit (PERC) and Designated Industrial Requisition Credit (DIRC) requisition refunds as provided by the provincial government.

The majority of this total comes from the recently bankrupt company Sanling Energy Ltd. for $582,337.46 while Trident and Capital Oil make up the rest at $26,024.99 and $574.49 respectively.

DIRC was introduced in 2019 and describes the process municipalities must follow to have any uncollectable Designated Industrial Property tax requisition cancelled or refunded.

PERC follows the same principles by giving municipalities an education property tax credit equal to the uncollectable education property taxes on delinquent oil and gas properties.

Council questioned why Capital Oil, a long-since operating oil company that went bankrupt years ago, was still on the tax roll, wondering if there were still oil wells operating but under new circumstances with a change in ownership.

It was agreed to hand the question over to the county’s assessor to find out more.

Newly introduced Bill 77 holds exciting changes in the eyes of municipalities within the east central region as it hopes to adjust the Municipal Government Act (MGA).

If passed, amendments made will restore a special lien that municipalities can use to require oil and gas companies to pay overdue property taxes.

This means if a company becomes bankrupt or decides not to pay their property taxes, municipalities will have a tool to convince them to pay or else property may be seized to cover outstanding debts.

As a result, municipalities will be more likely to recoup the revenue they are owed.

“From what I’ve seen… I’m hoping it will give us some real teeth,” said Judy Fazekas, financial manager.

Administration agreed to keep council apprised of any updates.

“No more writing off,’ added Coun. Jackie Watts. She mentioned a recent education session with Alberta Council lawyers where they indicated municipalities should be moving on this information by getting policies and bylaws in place to act once Bill 77 is passed.

They indicated early January at the latest.

Seed Cleaning Plant investor update 

Since August 4, plans have been moving steadily for the Starland Seed Cleaning Plant group.

With an ambitious plan to be operational by harvest of 2022, things have changed to account for necessary documentation and other details according to chairman Murray Marshall.

But now, the seed plant will soon have a home of 10 acres and now have the agreements in place to finance and build the nearly $4 million turnkey facility.

The board will not receive the property until next year due to a backlog at the land titles office.

Special Areas has agreed to have their equipment used to help in the site construction process which will be done next spring.

Once the group was able to establish the price of the build and contract would be honours, they put down $1.2 million to have LMC Saskatoon make deposits on the building as well as electrical and concrete components to ensure the price remains at $3.998 million.

Historical school signs

Administration received a request from Morrin history book committee to create and put up signage at two historic school sites within the county which includes Hillsgreen located at NW ¼ 19-31-20-W4M and Lloyd George School at SE ¼ 14-32-19-W4M.

In 2016, council meeting minutes were shown explaining council’s decision to support this endeavour by erecting at least four school signs at locations pinpointed by county residents each year until the list is complete.

Within that time, this project eventually fell off the radar of administration which has prompted a review by council.

Council agreed to investigate further by finding out current prices on signage before upholding the 2016 motion and asked to have Larry Anderson provide an updated list of signs.

 

Terri Huxley

ECA Review

About the author

ECA Review

The East Central Alberta Review (ECA Review), formerly known as the Coronation Review, is a newspaper that services 28,000+ homes each week.