Permissive tax exemptions
City councillors gave three readings to six bylaws for permissive tax exemptions to 30 community non-profit organizations at city council’s Thursday, September 17 regular meeting. The bylaws give organizations dispensation from 2016 city property taxes. City staff broke the permissive tax exemptions into separate bylaws in order to maintain quorum for the vote. Councillors are required to declare potential conflicts and not participate in business to which they may have other connections, which caused issue with quorum. Adoption of the bylaws is planned at a future council meeting.
Sister city invitation
Mayor Dave Formosa and chief financial officer Shehzad Somji have been invited to visit Zhuanghe in China’s north eastern Liaoning province by Mayor Yongbo Zhao to discuss another sister city business partnership. The city was previously contacted by a different Chinese city, HenYang in the Hunan Province, for a similar arrangement. Formosa and Somji are expected to travel to China later this month.
