Tim Hortons founder spent up to $10M a year subsidizing his luxury Nova Scotia resort
CBC
How do you value a property when there is no other quite like it?
That is at the heart of a dispute between the Fox Harb'r Resort on the Northumberland Strait and Nova Scotia tax assessors.
The owners say a $19.9-million assessment used for property tax purposes is far too high given the resort's huge losses, which run into the millions every year.
"The assessment does not properly reflect the market value as of the prescribed date," Fox Harb'r Development Ltd. said in its latest appeal, filed this week with the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.
The resort is not satisfied with a reduction in its 2020 assessment delivered by the Nova Scotia Assessment Appeal Tribunal last month.
The tribunal knocked the valuation down from $21 million to $19.9 million, but still well above the $5.7 million Fox Harb'r Development said it was worth.
The 401-hectare gated resort has become a byword for luxury in Nova Scotia since opening in 2000.
The gorgeous facility features a championship golf course, marina, private jet runway and hangar, a vineyard, stables and pheasant reserve.
Ron Joyce, the billionaire co-founder of the Tim Hortons coffee and fast-food chain, developed the resort near his hometown of Tatamagouche.
Records in the tax dispute reveal that until his death in 2019, Joyce underwrote operation losses, which peaked at $8 million to $10 million annually.
Managers for his heirs pared losses down to $1.5 million to $2 million a year, according to evidence filed in the appeal.
To break even, they are building new homes and planning a 48-unit development.
Fox Harb'r says Joyce built the resort as a legacy and community asset and not as an investment.
Jeff Cuzner, a commercial property tax director with the real estate services firm CBRE, filed a report on behalf of the Fox Harb'r appeal arguing no potential purchaser would "ever consider reproducing the subject as is given its location and fiscal performance."
When Premier Tim Houston recently raised the idea of reconsidering the province's ban on uranium exploration, the suggestion may have left some people scratching their heads.
Former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Paul Hodgson has a couple of reasons to celebrate Family Day — and Black History Month, for that matter.
A year ago, then Gatineau mayor France Bélisle abruptly resigned, citing a hostile political climate. This week she has spoken out, offering more details of her complaints about municipal politics in Quebec.
One man is dead and three others are in police custody after a deadly assault on a Manitoba First Nation.
When Piper sends her son to school every morning, she calls out a similar refrain: "I love you, try your best, I'll be here to pick you up when school is done," hoping he will be safe and supported.
A downtown Edmonton business advocacy group is worried about how a series of planned bridge closures due to construction could impact the city.
Vancouver resident Tara Garofano says she made a dinner reservation on Valentine's Day — not for romance, but to take advantage of the final hours of the federal government's temporary Goods and Services Tax (GST) holiday.
Students at McMaster University in Hamilton are questioning the institution's commitment to the prevention of sexual violence after staffing changes at the office responsible for that work on campus.
Windsor-Essex could see its biggest snowfalls of the year in what Canada's weather agency is calling a "highly impactful" storm.
Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services (FWES) is looking into reports of two young cougars that were spotted alone near Canmore this week.
All crew members of the MSC Baltic III have been rescued after their vessel ran aground close to the Lark Harbour shoreline off Newfoundland and Labrador's west coast.
Here's a look at some of the closures, and special events, happening in Thunder Bay on the Family Day weekend:
If you live in or around Toronto, you may want to keep that shovel nearby.