Calgary offers tax incentives for homeowners of heritage assets

The property is eligible for a one-time tax credit of up to 15 years or up to $ 50,000.

Article content

City officials are proposing tax cuts to Calgarians whose homes are designated as heritage.

Article content

The city said assets identified as having heritage value would be protected from significant remodeling or demolition only if they were designated as a historic resource of the municipality.

Managers said privately owned homes so designated would be subject to an 80 percent reduction in property tax on the municipal portion under the proposed housing estate tax incentives.

The property is eligible for a one-time tax credit of up to 15 years or up to $ 50,000.

The city said in a report to the council that the program would give homeowners the option of choosing between redevelopment and heritage protection.

The council’s executive committee voted to receive a report of information on Tuesday. This means that the tax incentives have not yet been funded.

Article content

The city is proposing a $ 5 million pilot for the program, which will be included in the city’s budget for 2023-2026, which will be considered this fall. They predicted $ 16 million to fully implement the incentives in 24 years.

At its pilot stage, the city estimated that in the course of the complete program, there would be more than 250 new designations and 60 new homes designated as heritage.

Word 8 coun. Courtney Walcott said heritage designation is important, but can be exorbitant for real estate owners. He said tax incentives could be the impetus needed to add some historic buildings to the city’s protected inventory.

“The thing about heritage is that there’s a lot we can do only when we trust to handle whether we can maintain the heritage and leave it to the real estate owner. “Wolcott said.

“If we don’t actually intervene to protect ourselves, we risk losing most of the story.”

jherring@postmedia.com

twitter: @jasonfherring