Kamloops city council has said no to three non-profits asking for a property tax exemption.

That includes the Kamloops Film Society, which city staff recommended they say ‘no’ to because the application was sent in too late.

Film Society executive director Dusan Magdolen pleaded his case to councillors beforehand.

“We only took over the operations of the Paramount Theatre in May, didn’t start programming until June. We were not aware we were eligible to apply for this, once we were we completed the application in a matter of days. We’re not in direct competition with the Cineplex Odeon. That theatre does what they’re going to do and we adjust after the fact.”

A motion was made at council that would’ve allowed the film society to be granted a tax exemption, however that did not gain support.

Meanwhile, council also did not allow tax exemptions for the United Way nor for the Generation Victory Centre Ministries, both located on Tranquille Road. Councillors Kathy Sinclair and Dale Bass voted against the separate motions, and in doing so were hoping to see both groups receive a tax exemption.

The United Way was denied because it didn’t have an occupancy permit and because it generates revenue from part of its space, meanwhile the Generation Victory Centre Ministries was denied because it doesn’t have a statutory exemption from BC Assessment.

“I think it’s also important to note, while a lot of this is related to council’s policies, there is a lot of statutory requirement that goes along with these exemptions. And I just want to reiterate again that this is a capped amount. We can’t just be mister nice council or miss nice council and offer everyone tax exemptions. There is a cap to how much that can be within our tax role,” Kamloops mayor Ken Christian says.

Following the discussion, a decision was made for the all-council finance committee to review its policy on permissive tax exemptions for Kamloops non-profits.

Any changes to the policy would come into effect in 2021 and would have to be approved by April.

Councillor Kathy Sinclair says some parts of the city’s policy are problematic.

“We’re quite big on social enterprise lately, and that kind of relates back to our strategic plan, but I think we need to have a real discussion on how a revenue-generating activity can suddenly discount a non-profit organization from being eligible for tax exemptions and grants.”

Council hasn’t reviewing its tax exemption policy since 2016.