Council's decision not to exempt the entire Howe Sound Women's Centre Society's building from municipal taxes hurts the people the not-for-profit is trying to help, says the society's executive director.
Last month, for the first time in the society's history, the District of Squamish council voted to extend a tax exemption for the society's offices but not its two rental units - landing the society with a future bill of $1,300.
Those units help pay for the centre's mortgage, said Sheila Allen, the society's executive director. The money allows the society to fundraiser for programs, rather than its own maintenance, she said. Now with an extra $1,300 tacked onto the society's annual expenses, volunteers efforts will have to also tackle the additional charge, Allen said, adding it's a poor use of volunteers' energy.
"Obviously it just means we have to find $1,300 from somewhere else in a depressed economy," she said.
While the district decided to tax a society that housed more than 55 women and 35 children fleeing violence last year, organizations such as the Squamish Yacht Club and the Squamish Valley Golf Club got tax exemptions, Allen noted. The services that the women's society provides to the community, at no cost to the district, touch many lives, she added.
"When you take money away from a non-profit, I think you are really multiplying the effects," Allen said.
The yacht club did receive a 100 per cent tax exemption, but the golf club pays the equivalent amount of municipal property tax in its lease, Mayor Greg Gardner said. There's an argument that organizations such as the golf and squash clubs provide a service that would otherwise be paid for out of taxpayers' pockets, he said.
"We think they are a recreation amenity to the community," Gardner said.
He added that he also believes the services the women's centre provides are as important, if not more so, but backing such services is a provincial, not municipal, responsibility. Even so, the district has stepped up to the plate to aid the society, Gardner said.
"The District of Squamish granted the women's centre a very large sum of money that we obtained through community amenity contribution to acquire the building that they are in," he said.
