For the past 99 years, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No.1 in downtown Calgary has had an exemption from paying property taxes.
Under provincial legislation, property held by and used in connection with a branch or local unit of the Royal Canadian Legion is exempt from paying property taxes. However, the oldest legion branch in Calgary isn’t exempt under provincial rules, because it’s licensed to serve alcohol.
In 1919, the city of Calgary sought to correct that by signing a 99-year lease that would provide a municipal exemption.
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On Monday, city council voted 13-2 to extend that exemption for another 100 years. Without it, the Legion faced a tax bill of approximately $60,000 in 2019.
Coun. Druh Farrell said Monday that Branch No. 1 doesn’t have the financial resources to take on a bill that high.
“Other legions sit on a larger piece of land– they’re land rich– and they have an opportunity to redevelop to try and bring in some revenue,” she said. “In this particular case, because the building is quite small and a heritage building, they don’t have that opportunity.”
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Farrell said the building has provincial historic status and that legion officials will now go after a municipal historic resource designation which can free it up to seek municipal heritage preservation grants.
Coun. George Chahal was one of the two dissenting voices on council. He questioned the process of determining who gets a tax break, adding that the city deals with a huge number of tax cancellation requests.
“Those cases– and many cases– were on a case-by-case basis, picking winners and losers – who should get a tax exemption and who shouldn’t– and I think this process needs to be fair and equitable and we need to be fiscally prudent in how we do that,” he said.
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