Back taxes may be forgiven
Village begins process of settling $71K tax dispute with DKFN band member
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, May 14, 2015
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
A years-long tax dispute in Fort Simpson is coming to a close after the village began the process of forgiving more than $68,000 in unpaid property taxes and penalties for Dolly Tsetso last week.
Dolly Tsetso holds a letter from the Village of Fort Simpson stating its intention to forgive over $68,000 in property taxes and penalties. She says the process has caused her considerable pain. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
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Tsetso owes $71,002.60 in back taxes, of which more than $51,000 is due to penalties that have accumulated from unpaid property taxes dating back to 2003. As of this fiscal year Tsetso owed $16,832.29 in property taxes and another $2,844.56 in school taxes.
On Monday night, council voted unanimously in favour of a motion to draft a bylaw that would forgive all but the $2,844.56 worth of school taxes owed by Tsetso.
"This has been plaguing our community for longer than I care to remember," said Coun. Ron McCagg.
"This lady's been through a lot of grief and a lot of stress.
"We have to find in favour of this lady. We really do."
Citing a conflict of interest due to family relations, Mayor Sean Whelly recused himself while council deliberated.
Tsetso did not pay her taxes since 2003, when she first received a letter from the village stating she was in arrears, because she believed her property was on Liidlii Kue First Nation land and was therefore exempt from paying property taxes.
She said she had an assurance from Jim Antoine, the Liidlii Kue First Nation chief at the time, who she said told her in 1989 that her property was on band land.
"When we first got this lot, we asked for band land," said Tsetso. "This was not band land. But in that letter (Jim Antoine, LKFN chief at the time) wrote us, he said that's band land, go ahead and build on it. So we built on it."
The problem, however, was that Antoine failed to get all five signatures required from the band to officially transfer the land, said Tsetso.
"There was no explanation, no letter telling me anything that was happening," she said. "I was not aware of anything at all."
Tsetso said she was assured the land would be transferred to LKFN band lands in 2002.
In 2003, the NWT Housing Corporation relinquished the property's title to the Commissioners land without informing her, said Tsetso. That year, the village informed Tsetso she owed property taxes.
She said she went to the band office with the letter and was told the band would deal with it.
The band didn't, and this process repeated itself time and time again over the years, she said. Tsetso then took it upon herself to start contacting people in different levels of government to help resolve her problem.
"This was a long process for me," said Tsetso, holding a letter with the village's intent to erase the majority of her property taxes and penalties in her home.
"There was a lot of grief, mental and emotional pain for myself."
'Skating on very thin ice'
Although councillors were all in favour of the motion, they made it clear that Tsetso's case was an exceptional circumstance. They agreed the bylaw will have to be worded very clearly in order to prevent other residents from asking their taxes to be forgiven on unreasonable grounds.
"We're going to review these cases one at a time," said McCagg. "That's all we can do, and that's why people actually voted for us."
Deputy mayor Stella Nadia expressed concern that the village was going to write off the work it had done on tax arrears files over the last several years, while Coun. Laura Keats worried that council was "skating on very thin ice" by being lenient with Tsetso.
Nadia suggested that Tsetso should still pay the $2,844.56 in school taxes owing to deter residents from allowing their taxes from falling into arrears.
"I think she has to be left holding something here to send a message out to other people that are in this situation themselves that you have to clear these things up as soon as they arise," she said.
In the end council agreed that was the best way to proceed.
Beth Jumbo, acting senior administrative officer, said Tsetso is trying to get to the point where she can do a land swap with the federal government so that her property can be protected as band land in the future.
At the village meeting, councillors thought the process for Tsetso to get her land officially swapped could take more than a year and stipulated that she would be responsible for any further property taxes until then.
Tsetso said she does not have an issue with paying the school taxes she owes and any future taxes that may be levied while she is waiting for the land swap to come into effect. She said she is in the process of getting a loan from the bank to cover the school taxes and any further taxes.
"If it's got anything to do with school, I don't mind," she said.
Although she is glad that council is moving ahead on the issue, she hopes the land swap will be resolved sooner rather than later.
"I pray to God that this is going to be over and done with for me inside of a year," she said. "It's really taken a toll on me."
Tsetso said she can't see band members paying taxes.
"They really shouldn't have to," she said. "This is our land. This is ours. We were here long before the people who are saying, 'Oh you gotta pay taxes.'"
