21 child-care centres in Regina seek property tax exemptions
A group of 21 non-profit child-care centres in Regina are hoping to be granted property tax exemptions.
Representatives from the centres will be at a city executive committee meeting on Wednesday to make their case, as they did in 2017.
A handful of daycare centres were reclassified as commercial properties in 2016.
The Cathedral Area Co-operative Daycare went from paying $3,500 in 2015 to $8,000 in 2016, while the Whitmore Park Child Care Co-operative said its taxes went from $3,700 in 2015 to $10,100 in 2016.
The group's appeal of the tax change was denied by the Saskatchewan Municipal Board.
"It is very frustrating," said Tasha Balkwill, executive director of the Whitmore Park Child Care Co-operative.
Balkwill said her centre has cut back on learning materials, slashed its grocery bill and raised fees.
"We're still struggling financially," she said.
The 21 child-care centres also said the city has a two-tiered system when it comes to taxing daycare centres.
City daycare centres located within schools do not pay property tax.
"We are paying commercial property tax, [but] we are not commercial buildings. We're not commercial organizations, so there's a huge double standard there. We're not even labelled as non-profits," Balkwill said.
Exemptions for curling clubs, community gardens
Regina city council's executive committee will be reviewing a new non-profit tax incentive policy at its meeting Wednesday but a vote won't come until later this month at a city council meeting.
Among the recommendations are setting a cap of $1.2 million for the tax-incentive policy, which happens to be the total in lost revenue through tax exemptions to non-profit organizations in 2018.
The city granted exemptions to 30 non-profit and charitable organizations in 2018 including the RCMP Heritage Centre, the Canadian Red Cross and the Regina Thunder Football Club.
Other recipients included seven community gardens, three curling clubs and two agricultural societies.
"I'm kind of offended because why aren't children and child care a part of this, when community gardens are?" Balkwill said.
"It seems really off-balance and we need to put our children first."
The child-care centres said including them on the exempted list would cost the city about $120,000.
The city has said in the past said that it follows exemptions set out in provincial government legislation, and daycares are not listed as exempt from taxation.
