Common Councillor Gerry Lowe says Canaport L-N-G is making 22 and a half million dollars a year but paying just 500 thousand dollars annually in property tax, well below the estimated 8 million it would be were it not for the 25 year tax concession.
Lowe, who has read the court documents on how much money is being made, wants to see that deal overturned, if it can be. He believes his fellow Council members will feel the same way when they get more information on the finances.
He adds the city has been forced to cut back because of a lack of tax revenue in areas that have hurt a lot of people and he considers that to be wrong.
The only member of Common Council who was serving back in 2005 when the vote was taken to grant the tax concession to Canaport L-N-G is Bill Farren.
He voted in favour, saying if you look at the big picture, the developers of retail on the east side made clear they set up shop in the city because L-N-G is here and Council heard the same refrain from the people who built the potash terminal in the south end.
Farren is unsure whether knowing now what he didn’t know back then would have changed his vote but he doesn’t object to the deal being looked at again.
