Mountain View County council has been given an update on outstanding property taxes. The review came during the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
“The amount of collectable outstanding property taxes as of Dec. 31, 2018 is greater than in recent years,” administration said in a briefing note to council. “It is notable that there is one oilfield company which had an outstanding balance of $292,710.17 at year-end.
“This company holds 69 tax rolls and has been making monthly payments of $85,143 since October 2018. Had this one account not been outstanding the balances would have been very comparable to prior years.”
Total outstanding tax balances in 2018 were $1,225,227. That compares with $1,523,248 in 2017, $1,765,318 in 2016, and $1,526,665 in 2015.
The bad debt allowance in 2018 was $123,585 in 2018. That compares with $741,172 in 2017, $743,432 in 2016, and $667,309 in 2015.
Collectable outstanding taxes were $1,101,642 in 2018. That compares with $782,075 in 2017, $743,432 in 2016, and $667,309 in 2015.
The number of rolls outstanding in 2018 was 450, the number of outstanding oilfield rolls was 103, the outstanding oilfield accounts totalled $431,310, and the outstanding bad debt allowance was $118,107.
Total debts written off during 2018 came in at $754,535. That compares with $315,112 in 2017.
“Each year the county makes allowance for bad debt,” the briefing note states. “Administratively the allowance is reviewed to ensure all possible avenues of collection have been exhausted. Annually a request for decision goes to council for uncollectable property tax accounts to be written off as bad debt.
“This ensures bad debt accounts are dealt with in a consistent and timely manner from year to year, thus avoiding excessively large writeoffs in some years while none in many other years.”
Council received the report for information.
Meanwhile, council was also given an update on the provincial community generation capacity building program.
In a briefing note to council, administration said it has researched the program and participated in a related webinar.
Administration looked at potential solar or wind generation at the McDougal Pit, the Olds-Sundre landfill or the Sundre Airport. In all cases, it found that such projects would be economically limited.
“It is administration’s position that unless there are other land locations that council would like to identify for solar or wind projects, that the grant program would be unable to further progress any of the above mentioned locations towards a potential renewable energy facility.
“Administration will continue to review potential grant opportunities as they are released to identify capital funding opportunities for installation of renewable energy projects at municipal facilities and/or public lands and return potential projects to council.”
Council received the report for information.
