Nelson grants golf course property tax exemption for 2026
Published 1:38 pm Thursday, October 23, 2025
Nelson City Council decided at its Oct. 21 meeting to give the Granite Pointe Golf and Recreation Society a permissive tax exemption for the year 2026.
The exemption passed three readings and has still to be finally adopted by a vote at a future meeting.
Permissive property tax exemptions are given by municipalities to non-profit organizations for 10 years if they occupy city-owned buildings and four years for other buildings.
The golf course received such an exemption for many years until 2024, but in that year council decided not to grant an exemption to the club for 2025 because the status of the golf course was unclear following the announcement of plans for its renovation and management by a private company.
Nelson council routinely grants property tax exemptions to non-profit organizations operating in the city. The exemption granted in 2024 to the golf club was $3,325.
City manager Kevin Cormack informed council at the Oct. 21 meeting that the re-development of the golf course will not proceed in 2026, that the course during that year will be open to the public and run by the society, and will therefore eligible for the exemption.
Granite Pointe did not immediately reply to a request by the Nelson Star for confirmation that the course will be open next year.
Council voted 4-3 to grant the exemption but only for one year because the future of development at the golf course is uncertain. The exemption was given on the condition that the golf course will remain open for public use in 2026 and not closed for improvements.
Councillors Rik Logtenberg, Jesse Pineiro and Leslie Payne voted against the 2026 exemption, giving a variety of reasons why they think the golf course does not need a subsidy.
Logtenberg argued that the exemption is a subsidy to an organization that serves a very small part of the community. Pineiro echoed this concern and questioned the city’s “special relationship” with the golf club. He wondered why this relationship appears to be “enshrined” in the thinking of the city.
Who gets exemptions and why
Permissive tax exemptions are enabled by the provincial government’s Community Charter and by city policy, which contains these stipulations:
• Organizations must be non-profit and provide needed social and community services to city residents or provide arts, cultural or recreational activities of demonstrable benefit to city residents;
• Organizations must be able to raise their own revenues;
• Granting an exemption would not result in an inappropriate shifting of costs from other levels of government to local taxpayers;
• Applicant must offer their services primarily to citizens of the city;
• Exemptions must stay within funding cap guideline of .5 per cent of the tax levy for non-city owned properties and .5 per cent for city-owned property, for a total target of one per cent of the tax levy.
In 2024, full or partial tax exemptions were given to 31 Nelson organizations including 11 churches, which are provided a general exemption by the province for their church building. The city’s exemption for churches applies only to the surrounding property and any improvements on it.
