Two properties in Airdrie will soon be on the auction block after the owners failed to pay their taxes. Airdrie City council approved setting reserve bids for both properties at its Nov. 3 meeting.
Council approved setting a reserve bid of $165,000 for the larger of the two properties, located at 1,99 East Lake Cres. N.E., and a reserve bid of $32,000 for a mobile home located at 17,649 Main Street N.W.
The taxes owed will be deducted from the sale proceeds and paid to the City. The remaining balance will then be paid to the current owner, according to Palki Biswas, team leader Financial Services and Taxation with the City.
The owner of the property on East Lake Cres. owes a total of $119,903.31 in back taxes. The property was assessed at $270,000 in 2014, however, it is not worth that amount in its current state, according to the City.
According to City Accessor Larry Laverty, “we did certainly consider (the state of the property) in the evaluation. First off, the property’s been abandoned for a number of years. That in itself creates a stigma.
“There is contamination on the site. We also have non-conformance on electrical issues that aren’t to code which would required the unit to be brought back to basically a shell. Those are all factors that play into reducing its market value.”
Bidders on the property at the public auction would be encouraged to review the contamination documentation relating to the property prior to bidding, Biswas said.
Director of Corporate Services Lucy Wiwcharuk said she was unable to discuss the details of the history and contamination of the property in an open forum, citing privacy issues. However, she told council City staff have been dealing with the property, including the contamination issues, for a number of years.
“We’ve tried to do everything we could do within our powers as a municipality to get the situation rectified,” she said. “We are very concerned as well about the environmental issues of contamination.
“We’ve been in contact with Alberta Environment over what has happened there. We’ve actually moved forward with assisting and drawing funds from Alberta Environment in order to get some of the clean-up done. We’ve taken the initiative to commission reports in order to test and re-test over the course of the last two to two and half years to better understand what it is we’re dealing with there.”
Wiwcharuk said the process by which back taxes are collected is very strictly legislated through the Municipal Government Act (MGA), leading staff to take the step of putting the property up for public auction.
The sale of properties on which taxes are owed is mandated under Section 418 of the MGA, which states, “each municipality must offer for sale at a public auction any parcel of land shown on its tax arrears list if the tax arrears are not paid.”
The owner of the mobile home located on Main Street owes a total of $797.65 in back taxes.
Some members of council, including Alderman Ron Chapman and Alderman Candice Kolson asked for clarification on how taxes are collected for mobile homes.
“The trailer park is owned by an individual. The mobile homes are also owned by individuals who pay a lot rent so they are taxed as well,” Laverty said. “Bids (during the public auction) are on the structure only, not the land.”
According to Biswas, owners of both properties have been contacted numerous times but have made no effort to enter into an agreement to pay the taxes owed to the City.
“The (City) departments will continue to make attempts to collect the taxes up to and including the date of the public auction,” she said.
The public auction is scheduled on Nov. 30 at 1:30 p.m. in council chambers at Airdrie City Hall.
