https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/05/13/news/jason-kenneys-government-responds-urgency-over-millions-unpaid-oilpatch-property
[If this becomes a battle between letting rural municipalities in
Alberta go bankrupt and continuing to coddle the oil and gas industry
despite their shedding jobs and walk away from environmental cleanup
responsibilities, it will be interesting to see which side Premier
Kenney comes down on. So far, he seems content to kick the can down the
road and let others take the heat. We already know the Alberta
government has no time or sympathy for property owners who have
contaminated property resulting from abandoned oil and gas wells, nor
any appetite for verifying that properties have actually been remediated.
links in online article]
Jason Kenney's government responds to 'urgency' over millions in unpaid
oilpatch property taxes
By Mike De Souza in News, Energy, Politics | May 13th 2019
As small towns write off millions of dollars in unpaid taxes from
Alberta’s slumping oilpatch, Premier Jason Kenney’s government says it
has sprung into action to find solutions for both the industry and
municipalities.
Provincial Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee Madu made the comments
after meeting with Al Kemmere, president of Rural Municipalities of
Alberta, whose members report they are owed at least $81 million in
unpaid property taxes from oil and gas companies which refuse to pay or
have gone bankrupt.
Rural Municipalities of Alberta is an independent association that
represents 69 counties and municipal districts covering about 85 per
cent of Alberta's territory and 17 per cent of its population.
Madu told National Observer in an emailed statement that the government
recognizes the “urgency" of the situation and that he met with Kemmere
on May 8 to chart a path forward.
The meeting was a few days after Premier Kenney said he wanted to bring
industry's concerns about high property taxes to the municipalities.
“In light of the urgency of this situation, we recently met with Mr.
Kemmere, and are working towards finding solutions that strike a balance
between the financial needs of the municipalities and the viability of
oil and gas companies,” Madu said.
“For many municipalities, oil and gas is a significant source of
revenue. As such, we are seeking to find solutions to ensure there are
no unnecessary barriers to these companies in the face of persistently
low commodity prices.”
Functioning companies not paying their taxes
Kemmere explained that the problem of unpaid taxes has become
significant since global commodity prices crashed in 2014 — a crisis
that has rocked the Canadian oilpatch and thrown tens of thousands of
people out of work.
“More recently, we’ve seen situations where we’ve actually got
functioning companies who have not gone insolvent, who appear to be
continuing to operate, but are also choosing not to pay their taxes,” he
told National Observer in a phone interview.
“They may not think they can’t afford to pay but the reality is they
continue to operate and as they continue to operate they choose not to
pay their taxes. They are making a deliberate decision not to pay those
taxes, which then leaves the municipality with the challenge of
collecting the dollars from other taxpayers or having to significantly
modify their services.”
He also said he wanted to make sure that Premier Kenney understands the
challenges municipalities face. Most recently, a company that operated
about 4,700 wells, Trident Exploration, shut down, leaving an estimated
$329 million in cleanup liabilities at old sites as well as millions of
dollars in unpaid taxes.
Billions in clean up liabilities
Trident's unpaid liabilities are among the billions of dollars in
estimated costs required to clean up aging oil, gas and pipeline
operations in the Canadian oilpatch. The provincial energy watchdog, the
Alberta Energy Regulator, has privately estimated that this cleanup cost
could be as high as $260 billion. The regulator has also warned that
taxpayers could wind up footing the bill in the absence of tougher
regulations that would require companies to pay higher security deposits
or demonstrate their financial viability before obtaining operating permits.
As it closed down its operations, Trident cited high property taxes as
one of the factors in its demise.
This prompted Premier Kenney to tell reporters in Ottawa that he wanted
to bring industry concerns about the high level of taxes to municipalities.
Kemmere said he hoped to speak to Kenney about how much municipal
revenues are eroding due to unpaid property taxes from industry.
“It does appear that he’s hearing from the oil and gas companies and
that’s one side of the discussion item, and we’re just hoping to deliver
to him the other side of the discussion piece,” Kemmere said.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the main lobby group
representing oil and gas companies, declined to comment about industry
not paying its property taxes.
Asked about the meeting with Madu, Kemmere told National Observer that
they were able to have a high-level discussion about the property tax
problem and other issues, but more work is needed.
Kemmere is also a councillor at Mountain View County, located between
Calgary and Red Deer.
Mountain View has also been affected by the shutdown of Trident and
stands to lose $567,800 in unpaid taxes , according to city documents
posted for a council meeting on May 8. It is one of several
municipalities facing budgetary shortfalls because of the unpaid taxes.
Kemmere added that Trident had approached these towns to ask for a break
on its taxes, before it shut down.
“Trident has come to various members and asked for some adjustment in
taxes. And at the same time, Trident, in their arguments, has not really
been open to sharing their books to really validate any requests that
they have had,” Kemmere said. “And that’s a common thing. When companies
come to municipalities, they don’t really open their books. Our books
(at municipalities) are all open and transparent and on our website
because they have to be. but we never get that chance to open their
books and legitimize things.”
Another town, Woodlands County, is facing a $4.3-million shortfall —
more than 20 per cent of its budget — due to unpaid taxes by Trident and
one other company, the CBC reported on May 10.
"We were blindsided," Woodlands County Mayor Ron Govenlock told the CBC.
"The problem really didn't surface until we started getting into the
budget deliberations. The value of the two particular industry players
that are oil and gas is so substantial that it represents in excess of
20 per cent of our tax income."
The CBC has also reported that Wood Buffalo, the county around the oil
hub of Fort McMurray, has $14.5 million in unpaid taxes to collect.
Kemmere said his association would be meeting next with an industry
group and hoped to follow up again with the government.
He also noted that Alberta municipalities already face an uphill battle
when it comes to their finances, since a portion of their property taxes
are used to cover the cost of provincial education programs. Overall,
cities across Canada estimate that they collect only 10 per cent of tax
revenues, versus the 90 per cent collected by the federal and provincial
governments.
--
Darryl McMahon
Freelance Project Manager (sustainable systems)
=====================================
To subscribe, unsubscribe, turn vacation mode on or off,
or carry out other user-actions for this list, visit
https://www.freelists.org/list/keiths-list
