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Tuesday, November 30, 1999
A sporting solution
Region unveils 'fair plan' to create new tax class for Corel Centre
Regional government has unveiled details of its multi-million dollar plan to help keep professional hockey in Ottawa.
The recommendation would slash property taxes at the Corel Centre to $700,000 from $4.6 million in return for a five-year promise the Senators will stay in Kanata.
The reduction would work by creating a new tax class -- the "commercial professional sports facility" category -- which would lower rates for local, regional and provincial shares of the property tax bill.
Regional Chair Bob Chiarelli acknowledged that proposal is not the zero tax plan Senators majority owner Rod Bryden has been seeking, but he called it a "fair plan."
Bryden has offered to pay for direct municipal services, which Chiarelli estimated would tally about the same amount.
The region's proposed "Senators solution" would essentially eliminate taxes from the Corel Centre stadium, generating $700,000 in taxes from the parking lots and surrounding lands. Chiarelli expects the staff report to be hotly debated at tomorrow's corporate services committee meeting.
"It's an exercise in judgment, it's not an exercise in who's absolutely right or who's absolutely wrong," he said. "I think you could make a strong case that it should go to zero, and you can probably make a strong case that it should be a rate of $1 million or $1.2 million."
Regional Coun. Al Loney supports a tax reduction to keep the team in town, but he isn't willing to go as low as the figure recommended in the report.
Loney plans to make a motion to reduce Corel Centre taxes to about $1 million for the building and another $500,000 for the lots and surrounding area.
"I think people would feel better about that than if the taxes were written off," he said.
Loney also intends to recommend a 10-year legal commitment from the team, including a clause that would require a payback with interest if the team leaves before the agreement expires.
Chiarelli still expects an announcement from the federal government by the end of this week, and hopes it will be the final piece to the $10-million puzzle.
It would be "unreasonable" for the senior level of government to hold back until other plans are finalized, Chiarelli said.
"The federal government should suffer the same rules as everybody else -- put their offer on the table, and put their conditions on the table," he said.
The regional plan released yesterday also offers a $144,000 one-time grant to the City of Kanata to help shoulder the burden. Last week that council voted 3-2 to help the Senators by cutting city taxes for the Corel Centre by 75%.
Bryden, who was out of town on business yesterday and could not be reached for comment, has appealed the facility's provincial tax assessment. A hearing is scheduled to be heard November 2000.
Kanata Coun. Richard Rutkowski, chair of the Hockey Is Canadian task force, was concerned that the $250,000 promised by the region has fallen to $144,000. But he's pleased the region is taking action, and hopes federal Industry Minister John Manley will follow suit.
"Ottawa is Minister Manley's home town -- it would be a miscalculated political move not to do anything," he said. "He will become the champion to finalize this whole deal."
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