Coun. Adrian Heaps recently announced plans to challenge a decades-old arrangement that has seen the city defer a total of about $33 million in property taxes at nine private golf clubs.
Rosedale Golf Club, located in the Bayview area, is on the list.
The deal, which deferred anywhere from 10 to 33 per cent of their property taxes, was intended to protect green spaces from development.
If the land was ever sold and converted into something else, the deferred taxes would immediately become owing.
Heaps said he doesn’t think that the city should be subsidizing private golf courses when the public doesn’t gain any benefit from it. They don’t have access.
He would like to reopen the deal, but it was signed in perpetuity, so the golf courses would have to agree to enter into discussions.
“At this point, challenging this deal is going to be a major undertaking, and we’ll see if our legal department has the fortitude to go after it,” said Heaps.
He is looking for one, or a combination of three things to happen. The golf clubs could begin to pay back the taxes, they could open up some space to the public, or they could do some community outreach.
Coun. Cliff Jenkins said he would be concerned about potentially putting the land at risk for development.
“Keeping the green space, I think, is a great deal,” said Jenkins.
Heaps said he wasn’t interested in opening up the space to development. He’s trying to right what he sees as a historical wrong.
“We don’t give people property tax deferrals to not pave over gardens,” he said.
