Full grants of property tax are history for all museums around town.

In voting to make all museums subject to its granting policy Monday evening, council confirmed the city will no longer issue grants to museums to pay their property tax.

And that leaves the board of MacBride Museum “saddened” and scrambling to figure out how the taxes can be paid while having as little impact as possible on programming at the downtown museum.

“We’re shocked; ‘stunned,’ really, is a better word,” MacBride president Keith Halliday said this morning.

The vote comes about six months after council adopted policy changes requiring organizations that previously received grants for their taxes to pay their tax bill.

(Essentially, the city would provide a grant equal to the amount of tax owed, thereby paying the tax bill for the group.)

Last January, Halliday pointed out, council directed staff to consider MacBride’s individual circumstances as the only museum to hold title to its land and thus face the property tax bill.

Since most of the city’s other museums are on Yukon government land, any tax bill would go to the territory. The only other museums not on government property are the Copperbelt Railway & Mining Museum, and the Old Log Church Museum.

Along with a higher assessment rate for its prime downtown location, Halliday pointed out that the museum will essentially be penalized for its fundraising efforts as all its assets, including cash, are factored into the tax rate.

There will be a phased-in approach where organizations that previously received a full grant will be required to pay just 25 per cent of their tax bill in the first year, 50 per cent in the second year, and 75 per cent in the third year before taxes will be required to be paid in full in Year 4.

Council’s unanimous vote Monday to apply the policy to all museums only came after a 3-3 tie vote defeated a motion put forward by Mayor Dan Curtis that MacBride be exempt from the policy.

Councillors Dave Stockdale and John Streicker voted with Curtis in favour of exempting the largest museum in the city and the only one to have title to its property.

Councillors Betty Irwin, Jocelyn Curteanu and Mike Gladish voted against Curtis’ motion.

A tie vote by council automatically defeats a motion.

In bringing forward his motion that would exempt MacBride, Curtis highlighted MacBride’s Front Street location just behind city hall and its status as the only museum to hold title to the land it’s on as individual circumstances which make it different from other locations.

“MacBride Museum is very unique,” he said as he pointed out the prime downtown location has a significant impact on the assessment rates used to calculate taxes.

He also pointed out the importance of the city and MacBride having a good relationship, given their status as neighbours.

That’s especially significant as the city works on its building consolidation project which will see a new service building on the same property as city hall.

The mayor later argued the exemption would be a “good compromise” to deal with MacBride’s circumstances.

“It’s not black and white; there’s a lot of grey out there,” Curtis said. He made the remark while addressing comments from other council members. Some had argued city staff worked hard to come up with a policy that would be fair and equitable for all organizations

Curtis also argued that if another museum were to gain title to the land it’s on, it could come forward at that time and seek an exemption to the policy.

Stockdale stated his agreement that MacBride is in a unique situation which warrants an exemption.

Streicker said the exemption is a small price for the value the city gets from MacBride.

Irwin, Curteanu and Gladish countered those arguments by pointing to the work that went into coming up with the policy they believe to be fair.

“I do not feel this is an undue hardship,” Irwin said of the nearly $5,000 tax bill MacBride will pay this year through the phased-in approach. The full tax bill would be $27,467.

Halliday said this morning work is being done to confirm those numbers, again pointing out MacBride’s assets will be factored into the tax equation.

During last night’s discussion, Gladish pointed to the benefits all non-profits offer the city. By exempting one, the city could be seen as favouring one over others and throw out all the consultation work that was done to come up with the current policy.

“We did go through a lot of consultation,” he said, arguing the need to make policies “fair and equitable” for all.

As Curteanu said, “I think all museums are valuable.”