CAMROSE, Alta. (Staff) – If municipalities win the right to tax farmers who use grain condominium storage, Alberta Wheat Pool may not build any more units.
Condominium grain storage was embraced enthusiastically by farmers in the Camrose area when 140 units were offered at the new Legacy Junction super elevator. However, rumblings that the units could be taxed by local municipalities may force organizations to rethink the service, said pool vice-president John Pearson.
A resolution passed by delegates at the spring meeting of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties asked to make the condos taxable. The issue now rests with the minister of municipal affairs, and no decision has been made.
Greg Thirsk, interim chair of the Legacy Junction Storage Association, said farmers perceive condos as equivalent to on-farm grain storage, which is non-taxable.
“We have some concerns as condo owners. We bought them and the municipality wants to tax them,” Thirsk said.
At Camrose each condo holds 4,000 bushels of grain and a permit book holder is eligible to buy up to four units at $10,000 each.
