The City and RM of Weyburn are now involved in a three-way conversation with the Weyburn Golf Club, and if things proceed the way everyone hopes it will, the home course of PGA player Graham DeLaet will continue to operate and draw in golfers from a wide area of Saskatchewan.
The issue isn’t over yet by any means, but the process has been started for the Golf Club to deal with their tax arrears with the RM of Weyburn. Golf Club board member John Corrigan told city council that they wanted to get the RM’s attention by deliberately not paying their tax bill, and they got their attention to the point where the RM felt they had no choice but to begin proceedings under the province’s Tax Enforcement Act.
The Saskatchewan Mediation Board, which is part of the larger Saskatchewan Municipal Board, has now entered the picture, and are requiring the Golf Club to take steps to pay their tax bill or else the RM will be given permission to begin the process of acquiring the title of the golf course property.
In the meantime, the Golf Club has approached the City of Weyburn with a request for the city to take over the ownership of the golf course property, with the proviso that the volunteer board of directors remain in place to operate the golf course, with the addition of an appointed council member to the board.
The RM doesn’t want ownership of the golf course, and will not stand in the way of the City of Weyburn taking ownership, if city council decides to go in that direction.
As one might expect in a three-way conversation, there are a lot of things to keep straight and obligations that have to be met. In this case, the primary and first goal is for the Golf Club to pay their tax arrears, but looking forward, they have a major infrastructure need, namely the upgrading of their irrigation system at an estimated cost of $750,000.
Ideally, the Golf Club would like to be exempt from taxes, or at the least, to have a discount of some sort. In order for the RM to grant this, however, the Golf Club needs to show documentation of financial hardship to the RM, which the RM says hasn’t been provided to them yet.
A solution can be found to all of this, and maybe, finally, the long-standing issue of the level of taxation on the golf course property can be settled so the Golf Club can operate and improve their facilities the way they need. The Golf Club is an asset for the Weyburn area, and many non-profit groups have held fundraisers there, so it will be worth the effort to find a viable solution. — Greg Nikkel
