The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 212 in LaSalle has won a victory in its long-running battle over back taxes.
The legion branch signed a contract this week with the Borough of LaSalle to lease space to a number of community groups, including a seniors' club and a bridge club that need space for their activities on a weekly basis.
The leases are expected to bring in between $35,000 and $40,000 annually for the branch, which owns the building on Bouvier St.
The branch was worried it might lose its long-time home if it wasn’t able to come up with the money for taxes owed for 2017 and what it believes it will owe for 2018. A series of sold-out or nearly sold-out fundraisers set for this weekend and next week will also help the branch.
“We're elated, obviously,” branch president Ray Cormie said. “Because that puts us at a threshold with the fundraisers and that that's going put us over the amount that we need to pay for the 2017 and 18 which (works out to) a total bill of $54,000.”
Cormie says the idea to lease the space to community groups was first proposed two years ago but never came to fruition until last week, when the borough matched the legion with groups of people with low mobility or wheel chairs that need space on a first floor.
Next, Cormie hopes to convince provincial tax authorities to grant the branch a status of non-profit for tax collection purposes and he says the borough is already supporting it in that effort. Having the central city’s support would go a long way to convincing the provincial body that decides tax status for groups, Cormie says.
