Editor, The News:
Historically churches have earned statutory property tax exemptions because they filled social needs in our communities.
According to a Maple Ridge municipal annual report, those exemptions totalled more than $140,000 in 2010.
There is no note or mention of what, if any, services these churches provide to the community in return for the property tax exemptions.
In addition to the property tax exemptions, many churches increase their revenues through leases for non-church activities, such as daycare and pre-school programs.
At least one church also operates a bingo game in a tax-exempt facility in direct competition with the Bingoplex and any other commercial establishments that pay high property taxes and are granted no exemptions.
I think it is fitting that any organization or church which enjoys the largesse of Maple Ridge taxpayers should be required to justify their exemptions by providing a detailed public explanation of the value of the services they provide the community.
We have homeless people suffering through extreme weather conditions with little help from municipal hall or most of the churches in town.
It should be feasible for the churches and municipal officials to devise an emergency shelter program. That would go a long way towards justifying property tax exemptions that are a holdover to those times when churches took their social responsibilities seriously.
Sandy Macdougall
Maple Ridge