City Hall looks for federal heritage tax breaks

[someone123]

City Hall looks to federal government to provide tax break for owners of heritage buildings in Halifax

STÉPHANE MASSINON
The Daily News

City Hall could soon be lobbying the federal government for tax breaks for owners of heritage buildings.

Councillors are slated to debate today the idea of lobbying Ottawa to give tax breaks to owners to help make it easier to own, repair and maintain the buildings.

With support from Halifax regional council, the mayor would write to the prime minister, federal minister of finance and federal Standing Committee on Finance to give certain tax breaks.

Those would be to establish a tax credit for commercial rehabilitation, establish an individual income-tax credit for the repair of heritage buildings, the GST and HST should be refunded on qualified repairs and volunteers should be able to deduct expenses in their volunteer work.

Phil Pacey, president of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, said the recommended tax breaks are in order of priority.

"A heritage building is a benefit to the entire community," Pacey said.

"It generates a lot of tourist interest and visitations."

Late last year, Pacey delivered a speech to the standing committee asking for the tax incentives.

There was a program in place by the previous federal government, Pacey said, but it's been scrapped.

"We think it's really important to provide something to replace that because there are a lot of commercial heritage property owners who need some help. It would be particularly valuable, for example, on Barrington Street in Halifax," Pacey said.

Downtown Halifax Coun. Dawn Sloane, who sits on the city's Heritage Advisory Committee, says it's very expensive to own and maintain an older building.

"Why not help and propose these changes so that we can help those who are trying to keep heritage alive?" Sloane asked.

With some older buildings in downtown Halifax, she said, the credits could make life easier for building owners.

Especially important, she added, was commercial rehabilitation.

"The shell of the building might be a good building, but what if you wanted to put in an IT building into an old building? The cost of any kind of retrofit is going to go through the roof," Sloane said.

"When we look at heating costs these days, and the fact that a lot of the older buildings have older heating systems - yo change those over to make the place viable costs a mint."

smassinon@hfxnews.ca

[someone123]

Is it just me or was Sloane even less coherent than usual in the quotations above?

[skyscraper_1]

Originally Posted by someone123

Is it just me or was Sloane even less coherent than usual in the quotations above?

hehe

"The shell of the building might be a good building, but what if you wanted to put in an IT building into an old building?

wha........?

[someone123]

I bet a bunch of people read that and thought to themselves "ooh.. IT.. she's so up on all the new things!"

[GUB]

Originally Posted by someone123

Is it just me or was Sloane even less coherent than usual in the quotations above?

Counc. Sloane was a bus driver before her 'promotion' to council. I'm not knocking bus drivers, but they're certainly not hired based on intellectual capacity. I heard her speak one evening during the HRM by design conferences. To say she was an embarrassment is putting things lightly. Can anyone say "country bumpkin?"

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by GUB

Counc. Sloane was a bus driver before her 'promotion' to council. I'm not knocking bus drivers, but they're certainly not hired based on intellectual capacity. I heard her speak one evening during the HRM by design conferences. To say she was an embarrassment is putting things lightly. Can anyone say "country bumpkin?"

I know what you mean its painful to hear her speak sometimes. I was there that night and thought the same as you.

[keninhalifax]

Here's a novel idea -- why not, instead of advocating for tax breaks for individual buildings with heritage designation, demand tax breaks for whole streetscapes of high cultural significance to the city? Barrington Street's historic and indeed present civic function owes itself not to individual buildings alone.

[someone123]

At the end of the day the problem is that council just isn't that interested in spending money downtown. They want to give money more directly to their constituents. This is why the library is taking so long and why nothing has been done about Barrington.