September 30 Council Meeting: Property Tax Exemptions for 2020

In British Columbia, there are certain properties that are exempt from property tax under section 220 of the Community Charter. The most common of these property tax exemptions are for places of worship, and for property owned by government. There are some 18 sub-sections explaining what must be exempt from property tax in the Community Charter provincial legalization.

Municipalities can also choose to exempt other properties from property tax under the Community Charter. This is something that Langley City does. We renew our “permissive” property tax exemption bylaw every year.

Council gave first, second, and third reading to provide an estimated $185,954 in property tax exemptions for 2020. These exemptions are less than 1% of the estimated property tax to be collected.

Several non-profit organizations lease city-owned land, and are included in the 2020 permissive tax exemption bylaw. They include:

Non-Profit	Address	Exemption
Langley Seniors Resource Society	20605 51B Ave	$41,330.00
Langley Stepping Stones	20101 Michaud Crescent	$3,760.00
Langley Community Music School	4899 207 St	$28,211.00
Langley Lawn Bowling	20471 54 Ave	$28,711.00
Langley Community Services Society	5339 207 St	$8,839.00
Governing Council of the Salvation Army	5787 Langley Bypass	$1,938.00

There are other non-profits that have been granted a property tax exemption in the past. While council could consider not renewing their property tax exemption status, I would consider these exemptions grandfathered. For 2020, they include:

Non-Profit	Address	Exemption
Global School Society	19785 55A Ave	$5,857.00
Southgate Christian Fellowship	5501 204 St	$14,891.00
Langley Care Society	5451 204 St	$38,186.00
Langley Hospice Society	20660 48 Ave	$3,683.00
Langley Association for Community Living	Various Sites	$10,548.00

Every year, there are requests for new property tax exemptions. This year there was a request from the Langley Memorial Hospital Auxiliary for their thrift store in Downtown Langley, and from the Langley Food Bank. These additions were not supported at Monday night’s council meeting.

There have been no new permissive property tax exemptions approved for a decade.

While permissive property tax exemptions are one way to help non-profit organizations in our community, the modern framework for supporting non-profits in Langley City is via our community grant program which offers more flexibility.