While they are open to further discussion, Trail council won’t reduce Teck’s share of the city’s overall tax bill this year.
The company has approached the city about reducing the amount it pays, which sits at 60 per cent of total municipal tax revenue. Teck would like to get that down to 50 per cent over the next decade.
Last week as part of budget discussions, council considered some options presented by city manager Colin McClure.
McClure said council could offer Teck a one per cent reduction in 2026 and direct staff to work with the company on a deal to provide further shifts based on addressing things like Teck’s current appeal of its property assessment, eliminating future assessment appeals, providing Teck-owned properties for future city use, and other funding support.
Alternatively, McClure said council could just decline the company’s request.
Councillor Bev Benson said she wasn’t against the idea of a reduction and wants industrial taxation to be fair, but asked why the request was coming now, given that a court decision on the company’s property assessment remains outstanding. She also noted Teck is on the verge of merging with Anglo American while Trail might amalgamate with Warfield.
Benson said it was worth talking with the company but felt it was too early to make a decision.
Council has heard that if the full tax shift was implemented overnight, the city would have to make up $2 million in lost revenue, which would presumably fall on residential and commercial taxpayers.
Councillor Nick Cashol said he considers the Teck tax shift “the single most important decision I will be making on council” and that it will set the city’s financial strategy “for the next decade plus.”
But Cashol felt the city has time to collect more information and solicit feedback from the United Steelworkers, businesses, and others. He said he wasn’t comfortable granting a reduction immediately, even at one per cent.
Cashol said he is “having a hard time” placing an additional burden on other taxpayers. He agreed 60 per cent is a large amount for a single company to pay, but he is struggling to “find the rationalization to justify that allocation onto local businesses and taxpayers.”
He noted the company made $280 million last year and wondered if it was fair to ask other taxpayers to pay more. At the same time, he felt the company’s request was reasonable and said he wanted to work with Teck.
Cashol wondered how much of the $2 million might be absorbed by the growth of the tax base over the next decade.
Councillor Terry Martin, who sits on the city’s industrial tax committee, said he would like council to reach consensus and for taxpayers to understand council’s reasoning for whatever direction they head.
Mayor Colleen Jones said she fears small businesses would stand to be the most affected by a tax shift and feels they are already having a hard time in an “unstable economy” given American tariffs. But she said the matter deserves further discussion.
“Even when this was first proposed, Teck was very willing to work with us,” she said. “They understood this was a big step and something we’ve never entertained before. We certainly don’t have all the information we need.”
Council unanimously passed a motion not to decrease the major industry tax until it receives further information.
As part of background information to council, McClure provided a slide that showed the percentage of tax paid by major industry in other municipalities. At the top of the list is Kitimat, where the local aluminum smelter picks up 85 per cent of the overall bill. Slightly ahead of Trail is Tumbler Ridge, where coal mining pays 61 per cent.
In Castlegar, the Mercer Celgar pulp mill pays 28 per cent. The amount used to be 40 per cent but was reduced following a dispute in 2009 where the company refused to pay its taxes entirely.
Residential tax hike expected to be 3% to 3.5%
On the residential front, McClure recommended an average overall residential property tax increase of 3.5 per cent.
He showed a slide comparing Trail to 50 other municipalities, whose tax increases range this year from nothing (Vancouver) to a high of 17 per cent (Keremeos).
Local increases include Rossland at 10 per cent, Castlegar at 7.76 per cent, Nelson at 7.75 per cent, and Creston at 4.09 per cent.
McClure noted that because Trail has a higher tax base, smaller percentage increases generate more revenue than in many other places.
A 3.5 per cent increase would mean an average home assessed at $406,000 would pay $1,115 in municipal property tax, up from $1,077 in 2025, a net change of $38.
When adding the residential flat tax, property debt tax, water rates, and sewer rates, the average home pays $2,381, up from $2,308, a change of $73.
However, councillor Thea Hanson said she wasn’t prepared to support the 3.5 per cent increase and proposed an increase of three per cent instead.
McClure will present the implications of a three per cent increase for council’s consideration later this month.
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