Yorkton Council made a unanimous decision at its regular meeting Monday to amend the City's Rental Housing Incentive Program.
The changes were made in response to a request made by Terra Developments Inc. to alter the tax incentive to build multi-unit rental properties.
The City's program had provided for a five-year tax holiday for new rental properties as long as the units remained in rental inventory for at least 15-years.
Terra Developments deemed the 15-years as too long, adding at the Sept. 13 meeting of Council they preferred the City of Weyburn's incentive program where units had to remain rental for only five-years.
Lonnie Kaal, Director of Finance with the City said while Weyburn's program was indeed five years, it was out of the norm, "as most other cities require at least a 10-year commitment to keep the units as rental units."
Kaal said it was City Administration's recommendation to offer "multi-unit developers the choice to opt for either:
a) five-year tax holiday with a commitment to rent the units or 10-years;
b) two-year tax holiday with a commitment to rent the units for five-years.
Councillor Les Arnelien made the motion to accept the recommendation. He
said for a number of years Council has said it wants to encourage the development of new rental units in the city. The old policy was perhaps too restrictive, and the changes could help those developments take place.
