Council cancels hearings due to advertising error - Medicine Hat NewsMedicine Hat News medicinehatnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medicinehatnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BILD wants tax break for developers
Poll
Yes
Tim Kalinowski
The Building Industry and Land Development Association of Lethbridge is asking city council to consider giving local developers a 50 per cent tax break on vacant serviced lots in the city.
Bridget Means, executive officer of BILD Lethbridge, made the request on behalf of her members to city council’s Economic Standing Policy Committee on Wednesday.
Currently the City has two classes of mill rates for empty lots. One is for unserviced farm or green field land, and the other is for lots which have been serviced for development. The savings to the developer comes on the assessment value– if no house is built on the property it is taxed lower because it is assessed lower, but ultimately the vacant serviced lot is taxed at the same mill rate as a lot with a house on it.
Council shuts down taxpayer-subsidized developer notices
Poll
Do you agree with the city’s decision to collapse certain advisory boards into one, nine-member Community Vibrancy Board?
Yes
City council voted to close a loophole where taxpayers of the City of Lethbridge were paying $400 per ad to subsidize development notices which appeared in the newspaper.
Developers who wish to bring on new developments are required by the Municipal Government Act to have the notices appear on two successive weeks in print media prior to a public hearing.
This is supposed to be at their own cost and recouped as fees by the City development department when they make their applications.
Council shuts down taxpayer-subsidized developer notices
Poll
Yes
City council voted to close a loophole where taxpayers of the City of Lethbridge were paying $400 per ad to subsidize development notices which appeared in the newspaper. Developers who wish to bring on new developments are required by the Municipal Government Act to have the notices appear on two successive weeks in print media prior to a public hearing. This is supposed to be at their own cost and recouped as fees by the City development department when they make their applications. During recent debates and public hearings to reduce the amount of information the City will provide in such notices in local print media, city staff revealed they had been subsidizing the costs of these ads for up to $400 per ad.
2020 year in review: May
Poll
Yes
By Herald on December 30, 2020.
City workers Matt Them and Dylan Beach remove closed signs from a play structure at Kinsmen Park as the City prepared to open playgrounds. Herald file photo by Ian Martens
@IMartensHerald
The Herald looks back to the stories that made headlines in 2020 with a month by month series running through this week to’ New Year’s Eve:
MAY City views gradual reopening with cautious optimism The City of Lethbridge is welcoming the province’s announcement that it intends to begin the process of relaunching Alberta’s economy this month. And while there is a spirit of renewed optimism that we have reached this point, said Mayor Chris Spearman, that optimism must be tempered with continued caution to prevent a second potential wave of COVID-19.