Canada's air traffic control agency is appealing for lower property assessments for airport control towers across Canada, a move that could cost Richmond thousands of dollars in taxes.
The 2013 assessment of the control tower at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond was set at $9.9 million by B.C. Assessment.
That was appealed by Nav Canada to the B.C. Property Assessment Review Panel, the first stage of an appeal process, in January.
That panel has withheld a decision on the YVR tower until the B.C. Supreme Court rules on an older dispute between B.C. Assessment and Nav Canada over the value of similar facilities at four other airports in B.C.
A few weeks ago, the quasi-judicial provincial Property Assessment Appeal Board, which hears appeals from Property Assessment Review Panel decisions, ruled the properties should be valued at just $20, citing their special use as a restriction in value.
"The market for the restricted use is inexorably tied with the larger airport and the market for airports," the ruling states.
"The properties themselves are not bought and sold in the market, and therefore, they cannot have a market value as stand-alone properties."
B.C. Assessment filed an appeal of the $20 valuations to the B.C.
Supreme Court this week.
If the tower at Vancouver International Airport were assessed at just $20, the City of Richmond would lose about $80,000 a year in property tax revenue, said Mayor Malcolm Brodie, adding he had not been informed the company had appealed the assessment.
"That's ridiculous," Brodie said. "I think the air traffic controllers play a vital role and a pivotal role in the airport operation and should be assessed and taxed accordingly.
"If there was such a reassessment it would be unfair in the extreme and I'm sure every party who has an interest in it would be appealing it," he said.
"Just because you have a unique use for a building or some property and it's zoned accordingly, to say that it has no value is just fiction."
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