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City won’t provide tax break |
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Written by Lethbridge Herald
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Monday, February 22 2010, 10:19 PM |
Local university and college dorms won’t be getting a property tax break from the City of Lethbridge.
City council voted unanimously Monday to continue taxing student dorms at Lethbridge College and the University of Lethbridge at the full multi-family property tax rate.
The issue was referred to administration last November, when a joint delegation from the college and the U of L asked city council to eliminate property taxes on student dorms, saying such a move would help both institutions accelerate their goals of providing more on-campus student housing.
They also suggested that increasing on-campus housing would help free up affordable rental accommodations elsewhere in the city.
Council members were unconvinced, however, saying they couldn’t justify transferring the tax burden to other residential taxpayers.
Multi-family properties in Lethbridge are taxed at twice the rate of single-family residential properties.
Eliminating the tax on dorms would have saved the institutions about $170,000 annually. In 2009, the U of L paid nearly $108,000 in municipal property taxes for student residences, while the college paid almost $63,000.
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